Two franchise quarterbacks with no-trade clauses recently were traded to their selected destinations. However, chances are that Russell Wilson would be a Bronco and Deshaun Watson would be a Brown even if they hadn’t held the ability to veto a deal to send them to any other teams.
For non-quarterbacks and non-franchise quarterbacks, a possible trade to a team for which the player doesn’t really want to play is a fact of life. For a franchise quarterback, what team would make the investment both in the form of draft picks and, sooner or later, financial compensation if the player doesn’t want to go there?
At one point during a Saturday press conference regarding the Watson deal, Texans G.M. Nick Caserio was asked about the “idea of weaponizing a no-trade clause to force a trade.” For franchise quarterbacks, there’s no need for any such weapon. If the franchise quarterback wants out, the franchise has no choice but to take it very seriously.
A franchise quarterback needs to be all in. He needs to show up early, stay late, watch film, provide leadership, hold teammates accountable, do plenty of things over and above and above and beyond the bare minimum. If he’s not happy, if he wants out, the whole thing falls apart.
That’s why it’s incumbent on the team to make him not want out. To make him happy. It make him satisfied. To make him willing to do all the things he needs to do in order to make the team as successful as it can be.
If he’s not, he’s going to want out. And if there are teams interested in him but he isn’t interested in them, those teams won’t seriously pursue him. Why would they? They need the player to be happy. If he’s not happy on the way through the door, when will he be?
The Seahawks and the Texans, for different reasons and in different ways, alienated their franchise quarterbacks. Even without no-trade clauses, they would have had strong voices in their next destinations.
A no-trade clause can’t become a weapon unless and until the team who holds the player’s contract shoots itself in the foot. That’s what the Seahawks and Texans did. Once the relationships with Wilson and Watson were fractured, those teams had to find trade partners. Even without no-trade clauses, Wilson and Watson wouldn’t have ended up in places where they didn’t want to play.
