Tua Tagovailoa or Sam Darnold: Which QB is likely to be traded by their team first

Tua Tagovailoa and Sam Darnold could be having trouble retaining their starting positions. The pressure is now on for teams to find a way to bolster their teams for their final playoff push or possibly ensure their attempts to have a much better season in 2022.

The trade deadline is fast approaching. This upcoming week and the final days leading up to November 2nd could be chock full of blockbuster trades. None more attractive or newsworthy than the possibility of Deshaun Watson finding himself a new team.

Both the Carolina Panthers and Miami Dolphins find themselves in a precarious position and talk of being a landing spot for Watson. Which team is set to trade their starting quarterback away? Who will be the first to pull the trigger?

Will Tagovailoa or Darnold be traded for Deshaun Watson?

The Dolphins are currently 1-6 and are looking at the wrong end of a failed season. They can't seem to get anything right and are likely to fire their general manager and head coach at the end of this season. Losing six games in a row is unacceptable and it is high time for someone to answer to this mess.

Enter Deshaun Watson. Owner of the Dolphins, Stephen Ross, has been linked heavily to the idea of trading for Watson, and he has the power to veto any say that Chris Grier or Brian Flores has to say. Their three-year rebuild of the Dolphins just isn't working.

This is bad news for the now 2nd-year quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa, who was meant to be the next Dan Marino for the Dolphins. Tua now has a 7-6 record and has all but sealed his fate in regards to being the next franchise quarterback for the Dolphins. Tensions are high in the organization and general manager Chris Grier may have to pull out all the stops to keep his job, and that is by trading for Watson.

Conversely, the Carolina Panthers seem to have found themselves in a world of trouble after starting their season strong. Quarterback Sam Darnold has seemed to regress in talent week after week, and that fact came to a boiling point on Sunday when Darnold was benched in the Panthers' thrashing by the 1-5 New York Giants.

Darnold and the Panthers have now lost four straight games and the feeling in the building is that Darnold is not their long-term answer. Reports have now come out that link the Panthers to Watson as well.

The deciding factor in all of this talk is that Watson has a "no-trade" clause in his contract and is only willing to break that for a trip to South Beach.

Tua Tagovailoa has not played worse than Darnold, but the Dolphins may be past the point of no return as their six-game skid cannot be overlooked. Although the Panthers could be an attractive destination for Watson, the Dolphins have more draft capital and a #1 cap space situation in 2022.

It seems that right now, the Dolphins will end up trading for Watson before the trade deadline, and Tua Tagovailoa may or may not be with the team within the next week. The same could go for Darnold.