Atlanta Falcons can't justify failed pursuit of QB Deshaun Watson | Opinion

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PALM BEACH, Fla. – Arthur Blank tried to sell it, but his explanations about the Atlanta Falcons’ experience with the Deshaun Watson sweepstakes still didn’t completely add up.

“Explore is the key word,” Blank said during NFL meetings this week, chatting with a small group of media outlets that included Paste BN Sports. “It wasn’t more than that, it wasn’t less than that. We had the interview, and that was the end of it.”

If the Falcons owner doesn’t realize that it was deeper than that, shame on him.

The Falcons were among four NFL teams that engaged in trade talks with the Houston Texans – and until the Cleveland Browns blew away the competition with a five-year, fully guaranteed $230 million contract, they were considered in some corners to be the front-runners to land the talented quarterback facing 22 pending civil suits alleging various levels of sexual misconduct.

As Blank described it, the Falcons were merely doing due diligence when they met with Watson during a 1-hour, 15-minute Zoom conference in early March. He contended that the team felt comfortable after preliminary investigation into Watson’s legal matters, which included a grand jury opting not to indict on nine criminal complaints. If the Falcons' pursuit intensified, Blank said, the team would have engaged in a more intensive investigation that might have ended their push for Watson, who was able to make his pick among the suitors thanks to his no-trade clause.

“It certainly merited concern,” Blank said. “I don’t know what the truth is. I know what Deshaun says, but I also know there are 22 allegations out there, and it’s a very significant and serious subject. For us to have the conversation we did, we felt comfortable at that point. Would it have changed our feelings moving forward? I can’t tell you the amount of research we would have done. It may have taken us down a different road.” 

Given the immense criticism the Browns have faced since obtaining Watson and brushback the Falcons have received for being in the mix, it is hardly surprising that Blank, days after GM Terry Fontenot downplayed the pursuit of the quarterback, would push a narrative that walks back on the nature of the team’s interest.

Yet Blank also maintained the ground rules established by the Texans in granting permission to talk with Watson, 26, included the qualification of interest.

To even explore that path, the Falcons had to know they were playing with fire.

OPINION: Deshaun Watson can't make the 'stain' go away with move to Cleveland

For all of the messages Blank has expressed about values in two decades of Falcons ownership, the optics of acquiring a marquee talent with a problematic and unresolved alleged pattern in his treatment of women carried the threat of immense damage to the franchise’s reputation…and by extension to Blank’s credibility.

As it turned out, even if Watson recaptures his all-star level of performance, the deal the Falcons didn’t make may prove to be the best one when considering the image issues.

Yet it’s striking that Blank, the Home Depot co-founder who worked to restore the Falcons' reputation following Michael Vick's dogfighting, even signed off on exploring Watson.

Blank noted that Watson, an Atlanta-area native, had a previous association with the Falcons after his four years as a ball boy as a teenager, which included a good relationship with since-traded quarterback Matt Ryan. He said Watson had a “very clean report” when he came out of Clemson.

That background factored into the exploration, despite what’s gone on lately with Watson.

Of course, immense talent typically buys second chances in the NFL.

“We try to do the right things for the right reasons,” Blank said.

With that, another mixed message. Perhaps, intended or not, the experience in considering Watson may force the Falcons to reassess the franchise’s values.

“Deshaun, I don’t know what he did or didn’t do,” Blank said. “Criminally, they dropped the charges. In terms of the civil suits, I really don’t know what will come out. I would hope that whatever it is, he would recognize whatever transgressions, whatever he did to contribute to that and understand that and move past that and as a young man understand how he has to develop in life.”

Blank watched Watson’s introductory news conference with the Browns last week and has surely sensed the attached fallout for the team. He insists that he doesn’t believe any damage was caused for the Falcons in exploring Watson, but that’s open for some level of debate.

After the initial interview with Watson, the Falcons fell out the mix. Perhaps, if Blank is to be believed, they would not have traded for the quarterback after further investigation. What’s clear, though, is that Blank sounds like there’s no way he would have paid the price that the Browns did with a massive contract. The deal, averaging $46 million per year, has reset the quarterback market and sparked grumbling among other team owners.

“You have to leave that to Jimmy and Dee Haslam, to make their own judgment,” Blank said, referring to the Browns owners. “The fact it’s $80 million above the highest contract ever given, guaranteed, in the history of the league, 102 years old, says a lot. Whether most teams in the NFL or any other team in the NFL would have committed to that contract, I don’t know. That certainly is a huge commitment.”

And the money is just part of the price.

Follow Paste BN Sports' Jarrett Bell on Twitter @JarrettBell.