Whenever Kirk Cousins' name comes up in trade rumors, San Francisco 49ers fans seem to let out a collective groan. That's the reaction caused by Peter King's latest column where he speculates what it might take for a team to acquire quarterback Deshaun Watson from the Houston Texans.
More on the Cousins portion in a minute.
Kirk Larrabee covered what King feels the 49ers might need to surrender to acquire Watson, and it is a hefty price. The NFL writer has San Francisco shipping quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, linebacker Fred Warner, tackle Mike McGlinchey, this year's first-round pick, 2022's first-round pick, this year's second-round pick, and a third-round pick in 2022 to Houston for Watson.
That's not even the portion of King's Football Morning in America feature that gained momentum on Monday. Social media reactions have focused King's second proposal for the 49ers to replace Garoppolo, should the first one not work out. The only problem is the second proposal doesn't send Watson to San Francisco. It reunites head coach Kyle Shanahan with Cousins.
King proposed a wild three-team trade that would end with Watson in Minnesota and Cousins in San Francisco. In the process, the 49ers would give up the No. 12 overall pick and Garoppolo.
With 49ers fans baffled by the suggestion of such a deal, King joined 95.7 The Game to further explain his thought process. The writer notes that Garoppolo's connection to Texans general manager Nick Caserio influenced the idea.
But Garoppolo and a first-round pick to end up with Cousins?
"Does Kyle Shanahan still love Kirk Cousins? I don't know," King told Damon Bruce, Ray Ratto, and Matt Kolsky. "I still think he respects him a lot, and deep down inside, sees one day that it might be fun to actually be able to have this guy as his quarterback because he loved him so much when he was in Washington."
Why Garoppolo and the No. 12 pick, though? Is Cousins seen as that much more valuable than the 49ers quarterback to warrant San Francisco surrendering that much?
"Now that's a really good question. I don't know," responded King. "This is not like I'm saying, 'I think the 49ers will offer this.' This is me saying, 'OK, how can you add up enough compensation to Houston in exchange for Deshaun Watson?' And that is where you start to come up with things like that.
"Do I think that the 49ers are going to do this? No, I don't. But if it is going to happen, if either the 49ers are going to get [Watson] or if the 49ers are going to be a vehicle to help get him, these are the kind of things that it's going to take in order to get him."
