Deshaun Watson Proving Doubters Wrong
Houston Texans rookie quarterback Deshaun Watson led the Clemson Tigers to a national championship victory over Nick Saban’s Alabama team a year after losing to the Crimson Tide in the national championship game.
After the game, Watson decided to forgo his final year in college and declared for the NFL Draft. Leading up to the draft, Watson saw his stock drop for a variety of reasons, and by the time the 2017 NFL Draft came around, Watson ended up being the third quarterback taken in the draft after the Houston Texans traded up to pick him at number 12.
The fact that Watson, who was arguably the best quarterback in college last season went third was surprising, especially since there were quarterback needy teams like the Cleveland Browns, San Francisco 49ers, and New York Jets with high picks that decided to pass Watson up.
It was also surprising to see the Chicago Bears draft Mitchell Trubisky, who started only one season in college, take over an established player like Watson.
Before the draft, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney compared passing on Watson to passing on Michael Jordan. Watson himself said any team that picked another quarterback over him would have to live with the consequences.
Five games into the NFL season, Watson is already the favorite to win the Rookie of the Year award, while Trubisky lost his first ever career start in the Monday Night game against the Vikings. Going into NFL Week 6 against the Cleveland Browns Watson is sure to pick up another win for the Texans.
Watson came off the bench in the Texans week 1 loss to the Jaguars and hasn’t looked back since. He has completed 62.1 percent of his passes for 1,072 yards, 12 touchdowns and 4 interceptions for a 100.7 passer rating. He also has the best quarterback rating in the league.
In four and a half games, Watson has already broken or tied several rookie records, and if he can stay healthy, will likely rewrite the rookie record book by the time the season is over.
With the 49ers still looking for their first win and the Bears currently 1-3. Their general managers have to be kicking themselves for passing on Watson during the draft.