The Atlanta Falcons were the runners-up in the Deshaun Watson sweepstakes in 2022, but what if they got the blockbuster deal done? Terry Fontenot's Falcons would have looked seriously different, and it's a what-if scenario that could have altered the state of the roster (and the NFL) as we know it.
Instead of Fontenot and Arthur Blank pulling the trigger on a Watson trade, he ended up with the Cleveland Browns, and we all know how that ended up. At the time, Cleveland signed him to the largest fully-guaranteed contract in NFL history, yet he never returned to his pre-COVID form and off-field issues derailed his career... so Blank dodged a pretty major bullet. But they almost didn't.
On the 4th and South Podcast hosted by Leonard Fournette and Jarvis Landry, they told a wild story. During the 2022 offseason when Watson was making his return to the NFL and was likely headed to Atlanta, he called both Fournette and Landry to join him with the Falcons since they were free agents.
Fournette revealed that they asked Watson to keep in touch with them to keep them posted, but that never happened. He left them out to dry before his trade to Cleveland, which devastated them both since it sounded like both of them were ready to join a three-time Pro Bowl QB with the Dirty Birds.
Leonard Fournette and Jarvis Landry almost joined the Falcons when they nearly traded for Deshaun Watson in 2022
It sounds like Watson originally called Landry, who was on the Browns at the time, about joining forces with the Falcons, and it was the latter who roped in his close friend and fellow ex-LSU Tiger. The pair revealed that they talked to him for roughly 15 minutes before they were on board with his plan.
Landry revealed that he spent several days talking to then-Falcons head coach Arthur Smith about he would be utilized in the offense beforehand. The five-time Pro Bowler was even planning to visit the facilities, but just as he was about to head for the airport, the news of the Browns' trade dropped.
Instead of ending up staying in Cleveland to pair up with Watson, Landry still made his way to the NFC South. However, instead of signing with the Falcons, the Louisiana native signed a one-year deal with the New Orleans Saints, while Fournette re-signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for three years.
This means that instead of the offensive nucleus of Bijan Robinson, Drake London, and Kyle Pitts we have today with Michael Penix Jr. quarterbacking, we would've had Watson, Fournette, Landry, and Pitts. And in this scenario, who knows if Kevin Stefanski ends up in Atlanta after avoiding the star QB, or even if Fontenot ever gets fired.
There's a lot to unpack in this purely hypothetical alternate NFL universe, but even in their current state, I think the Falcons are better off without this happening.