When you chase smoke, it's important not to get burned.
The Deshaun Watson and 49ers connection has been taken to new heights recently as we all know what occurred last week with Deshaun seemingly flirting with the 49ers fanbase, commenting on photos of him wearing a 49ers jersey.
Furthermore, reports surfaced on Saturday morning and continue to come out that Deshaun is essentially done in Houston, opening the door for a lot of excitement for 49ers fans.
Being a professional Smoke Chaser, we know how to read these situations to ensure we don't get burned and we would like to ensure you armor yourselves for potential disappointment regarding Deshaun Watson.
Connect The Dots
I am interpreting the last few days of the Deshaun Watson saga as being an extremely calculated effort by Watson and his team. Essentially a social media marketing strategy, if you will.
Coming from the marketing world and clearly having an understanding of social media marketing, strategies, and trends, I can see what his team has put together and executed.
It's game-changing.
We know a thing or two about hyping up an article.
I think we just saw that same play from Deshaun Watson in correlation to the Sports Illustrated article that was dropped Saturday morning letting the world know Deshaun is done in Houston.
Deshaun and his team have put together a great strategy in order to prime the world for his message via SI.com.
For example, Deshaun used commenting on a 49ers fan page on Instagram and twitter sub-posts to get the world ready to hear and accept his message.
Guess what, it worked perfectly and Deshaun Watson has the media targeting Texan's ownership and management, rather than the typical rhetoric; shut up and honor your contract narrative.
It's absolutely brilliant what he has done and has completely swung power from ownership to player with little effort and this is something every single player should be paying attention to.
He's done this all using the power of social media, something him and his representation deserve credit for.
Deshaun is represented by Super Agent David Mulugheta.
Hot Tub Time Machine
The year is 2017, the Jimmy Garoppolo led San Francisco 49ers were fresh off of beating the Jacksonville Jaguars on Christmas Eve
44-33.
Garoppolo threw two touchdown passes and ran for another TD against arguably the leagues best defense, led by budding
superstar CB Jalen Ramsey
-
who is represented by agent David Mulugheta.
This was also the game that the Jags famously referred to as the 'hat & t-shirt' game. If you don't understand the reference, it means the Jags wanted to clinch their division and playoff seeding in the AFC by beating the 49ers at home on Christmas Eve.
The point is, there was already some animosity heading into game week as the 49ers took this comment personally and wanted to spoil the Jags aspirations of clinching on the road and they did exactly that.
Right about then is when Jimmy-Mania exploded and 49ers' fans fell in love with the quarterback. The media also fell in love Jimmy after he took a team with 1 win prior to being traded from the Patriots to the 49ers and proceeded to rattle off 5 straight wins with an underwhelming roster and rookie head coach and GM.
Jalen Wasn't Very Impressed
Jimmy-Mania led to Garoppolo showing up on the NFL's Top 100 list for that season, which is voted on by the players.
Let's just say Jalen Ramsey wasn't impressed by Jimmy's selection on the list:
The Social Media Era
What we have seen in recent days, recent months or even years for that matter if you cover sports closely, social media is taking over which is what prompted my personal journey that has now led to what is the 'TheSFNiners' brand.
These players' accounts are becoming marketing powerhouses that NFL teams won't be able to keep up with much longer.
Deshaun is showing us in real time the value of a "social impression" and what it can do for your brand, positively or negatively. Social Media also gives us as fans the ability to speak back to these players and drive our own narratives for these situations.
The situation with Jalen Ramsey was the first time I personally noticed how much influence these platforms really had.
As I am sure you could imagine, I stood up for Jimmy and asked my followers to go comment "44-33" on Ramsey's page.
Well, as a result of my request from my followers, we absolutely took over his Instagram page with hundreds, if not thousand of "44-33" comments.
This was my first "Oh Shit" moment when it came to running this account and the community that we built and fostered together starting back in early 2018.
As I am sure you can guess, I was blocked by Jalen and currently still am but that didn't stop the entire 49ers fanbase coming after Jalen Ramsey on social media.
Understanding the marketing side, I would have to imagine Jalen's entire team was involved in monitoring this situation as this was a PR hit that was still new at the time.
Getting "roasted" by the internet was still in its infancy, compared to where it is now.
Even the 49ers social team joined the fun
The 49ers social team went all in and we loved every second of it.
#FamilyTies
*David Mulugeta has entered the chat*
Some people may be wondering why we keep talking about the agent and here is where we connect all the dots.
Take a look at the first two names on that Clients list.
The 49ers fanbase have spent A LOT of time trolling Jalen Ramsey and Budda Baker.
Internet trolling is something that external sources have to monitor. Those people who monitor these situations are likely a players agent and/or agency.
I have followed Mulugheta on social media since Deshaun entered the league with him as his agent. Since then, I have watched Mulugeta sign young talent after young talent and has now built an empire of young superstars as a result. He spearheaded Deshaun's massive contract with the Texans as well.
He's absolutely a legit agent with strong Texas ties and
promotes family.
I have observed that he and his players truly operate like family and know they frequently use the slogan "Family Ties".
Remember This Picture?
Oh, 49ers fans should remember the Earl Thomas situation.
Earl Thomas followed a similar gameplan, if you compare it to what Deshaun is doing right now.
Thomas followed, commented, and liked 49ers fan page accounts - creating massive buzz within the community as a result.
Sound familiar?
He liked Instagram Posts showing jersey swaps of himself in Niner gear like the one above. (Artist: Jeffrey Rose)
He even followed 49ers GM John Lynch on twitter:
49ers' fans were infatuated with the thought of poaching another member from the LOB. All this buzz surrounding 49ers Instagram fan pages translated into legitimate real hype from fans that poured over into the media.
I know Niner fans remember Earl Thomas from the Seahawks, the LOB, and the 49ers entire fanbases' destain for him and that group.
Add another one of Mulugehta's clients to the 49ers fanbase "shit list".
#FamilyTies
Earl Thomas got us so hyped up that he was seriously considering coming to the 49ers, I even pre-made a post for when the 49ers signed him - had the copy all pre-written and everything...
Maybe now you are starting to see the dots I am connecting.
The 49ers fanbase as a whole has went after a lot of Mulugheta's clients.
One thing about social media that I have tracked, people typically have an easy time remembering who talked bad about them or disrespected them on a social platform. And because it goes out onto the internet - it's there forever and It also makes it very easy to keep receipts.
Well, 49ers fans are really good at disrespecting players they don't like and I am sure Mulugheta's team is very aware of us (49ers fans).
So considering the #FamilyTies motto and lifestyle, the network of players under Mulugheta and how his clients have used this strategy before with the 49ers - I've watched Deshaun and his representation execute each step of their strategy with a strong understanding of what they are trying to accomplish - I've seen this play before.
The ultimate goal of getting his clients paid requires their agency to create and find leverage for your clients to accomplish a player getting a max-value deal.
The Leverage "Gameplan" Worked:
*The leverage has entered the chat*
Remember this?
Although there is no apparent connection between agents, there is a definite connection between players Tyrann Matheiu and Deshaun Watson. Tyrann Matheiu and Deshaun Watson are closely tied from their time on the Texans together.
Tyrann also did not get re-signed by the Texans after putting in a solid year and would end up signing with the Chiefs.
I would assume Tyrann has some stake in wanting to see the Texans crumble from the inside-out.
As we have weaved our way through this story, you can see see how there are a lot of dots to connect in regards to why Deshaun is using the social media to create buzz - including using 49ers' fan pages.
Beware Of The Smoke
With the experience dealing with Earl Thomas flirting with the 49ers situation from an agent who is also representing Deshaun Watson - a player trying to force his way out of a franchise similarly to what we saw with Earl Thomas,
I am very cautious of how Deshaun is working this leverage.
You have to look at everything you see from multiple perspectives and really try to obtain the full context because context truly matters in these situations.
We have identified a pattern from clients represented by David Mulugheta and we are keeping that in mind to ensure that we don't get burned by it and know how to properly analyze the situation.
The Ultimate Decision Makers
Again, Deshaun flirting with the 49ers is exciting but it's important to not have unrealistic expectations about acquiring a player like Deshaun Watson.
Below, a questions is asked to Kyle Shanahan about passing on QB Patrick Mahomes - we all understand how closely tied Deshaun and Mahomes are to the 49ers and this regime passing on both the superstar QB's in the 2017 draft.
Kyle has shared very similar comments specifically about Deshaun, like he mentions about Mahomes below.
Not only does Kyle address the situation and provide context into why he passed, you also have to look back the Bleacher Report article indicating a disconnect over Kyle and John's process in the 2017 NFL Draft.
Clearly there was truth to the above rumor because Kyle addressed it and admitted to passing on the superstar QB's due to his infatuation with Kirk Cousins -
A QB that does not resemble the traits of Deshaun or Mahomes, even in the slightest.
We have talked at length about Kyle's "type" of Qb and we are starting to believe it's a real thing. Whether it was Matt Ryan, Brian Hoyer, Jimmy Garoppolo, CJ Beathard, Nick Mullens, etc - they all have very similar traits that are distinctly different than Mahomes/Watson.
Yes, Kyle had RG3 - Kyle didn't like RG3 and his play style which is well documented.
I understood that about RG3 when we hired Kyle, which is why I knew he wouldn't take either QB prospect based on their traits and how their traits "don't ideally translate" to his scheme.
But again, nothing Kyle has ever done would indicate to me that he is interested in Deshaun Watson at the floated asking price by the media.
Ultimately, I would assume the asking price for Deshaun will be too high, just like the Bleacher Report trade scenario that was floated today.
What we need to keep in the front of our minds while we process this situation:
- Is there more context to Deshaun flirting with the 49ers than just wanting out of Texas?
- Does Deshaun really want to come to the 49ers?
- Is Deshaun using the 49ers as a leverage piece?
- Does Deshaun and his representation hold a grudge against the 49ers for not being interested in their client during the 2017 draft?
- Does Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch want to leverage the future for Deshaun Watson when they showed no interest during the 2017 draft?
- Do Kyle and John admit their mistake by passing on the generational QB's and risk their futures further as a result for someone they could have had for a bargain?
This situation is extremely complex and like Robert Saleh says -
"The NFL Is A Precious League. Every Detail Matters."
This saga is just beginning and who knows how this plays out but there is a lot that needs to happen for Deshaun Watson to be a Niner in 2021.
The trends would tell me that it is unlikely to happen, although nothing would shock me in the NFL.
Just make sure you are protected from the smoke so you don't get burned.
