Failure to land Deshaun Watson caused Falcons to lose out on Jarvis Landry and other superstars

Deshaun Watson has been one of the biggest stories of the 2022 NFL offseason. He requested a trade prior to the 2021 season and again at the trade deadline before eventually sitting out the entire year while dealing with legal issues off the field. He was once again the center of many trade rumors when the 2022 offseason arrived.

Many teams were interested in acquiring Deshaun Watson in the trade market and several of them made offers to the Houston Texans. Watson's contract had a no-trade clause, giving him all the leverage in the situation.

Between the teams he elimianted and the ones that didn't make a good enough offer to the Texans, the race came down to the final four teams.

The Carolina Panthers and Cleveland Browns were then reportedly eliminated from the race, leaving just the Atlanta Falcons and New Orleans Saints as the final two teams. Many reports believe that Deshaun Watson was planning to sign with the Atlanta Falcons before a surprise twist happened.

The Cleveland Browns came back into the equation by offering Watson a massive contract extension to accept a trade and join them. Watson accepted the proposal and the Texans agreed to trade him to the Browns. The Falcons were close to a game-changing move. Unfortunately, it fell apart before being finalized.

In addition to losing out on Watson, the Falcons may have also missed the opportunity to sign several key free agents as well. Multiple stars were reportedly waiting for Watson to officially join the Falcons so that they could follow him there. Among those stars were Jarvis Landry, Leonard Fournette and AJ Green.

Now that Watson has chosen Cleveland, the rest of the stars are unlikely to join the Falcons either. The organization is likely disappointed with missing out on such a great opportunity to rebuild their franchise.

Who will be the quarterback of the Atlanta Falcons instead of Deshaun Watson?

Quarterbacks Matt Ryan and Deshaun Watson

After missing out on Watson, the Falcons will reportedly turn their attention back to their current quarterback Matt Ryan. He has spent the entirety of his 14 year NFL career with the Falcons while winning one NFL MVP award and one NFC Championship game. He is one of the best quarterbacks in their franchise history.