Philadelphia Eagles rumors: Deshaun Watson discussions are restarting

Here we go again. The Philadelphia Eagles may have reset their sights on an all-too-familiar trade target in Houston Texans’ QB Deshaun Watson.

It’s only Week 4, but Philly hasn’t liked what they’ve seen in Jalen Hurts so far. After one standout game, Hurts has entered a rut of disappointing performances.

Hurts is coming off arguably the worst game of his career, one versus Dallas. Hurts completed 25 of 39 pass attempts and threw for 326 yards and two touchdowns, but he also recorded two interceptions.

After the game, Hurts was the first to blame himself for the Eagles’ loss, but his recent struggles could possibly have the franchise once again casting doubt on the young quarterback’s future in Philly.

In discussing Hurts’ failings, Mike Florio of NBC Sports spurned ‘Minshew Mania’ for a bit of Watson gossip. Here are his exact words:

"From the Eagles’ standpoint: aware of the possibility that the Dolphins are going to do a deadline deal [for Watson], cognizant of what Hurts is or isn’t doing, maybe on some weird level this is an organizational effort to put the Hurts’ ceiling-floor analysis in an accelerator…Let’s throw stuff at [Hurts], let’s see how he responds so we can make an assessment by November 2, and if we decided to pull the trigger, boom, we go get Deshaun Watson."

This sounds familar. We’ve been here before, right?

Could the Philadelphia Eagles really make a move for Deshaun Watson in 2021?

Those Watson rumors have circulated since the offseason when the Eagles were knee-deep in the rebuilding phase of their rebuilding phase.

To jog your memory: Philly had Hurts and veteran Joe Flacco ‘competing’ for the starting QB position, though anybody with half a football brain already knew Hurts was the more logical choice.

Yet the franchise didn’t name Hurts the starter until a little over a week before the first season game.

They weren’t sold on Jalen Hurts then, and something tells us they’re more than willing to withdraw their vote of semi-confidence in a player whose Eagles’ career might have been doomed from the start.

Florio believes a Watson trade could actually happen this season since the Texans have recently softened their stance on what they want. Watson also draws interest from the Miami Dolphins, which means the Eagles have a relatively short window (until the trade deadline) to decide if they want to keep or drop Hurts.

With Hurts’ currently underperforming through three weeks of the season, the Birds may not be willing or patient enough to stick around and see how high his ceiling truly is.

The trade rumors may never fully go away from Hurts; if it’s not Deshaun Watson, it’s some other high-profile veteran quarterback who would be a safer bet for the franchise. The Philadelphia Eagles have had some kind of personal vendetta against Hurts from Day 1, and all this re-emerging trade talk just proves Hurts is running out of the few chances he has left.