With two ACC Championships, a National Championship and a bachelor’s degree, Deshaun Watson will always be a Clemson Tiger. However, like all good things, his time in Tiger Town has come to an end.
There are countless debates about where Watson will be taken in the draft. New reports surface nearly everyday with accounts of Watson visiting this team or that team. How will he fit in here or there and how do the NFL suits really see DW4? Is it a real possibility that Mitch Trubisky will be taken ahead of Watson? The NFL Draft begins Thursday April 27th but today, I’ll share my thoughts on the big Draft Day Debate. Take Deshaun or not?
When I think of Deshaun Watson’s game, the first thing that enters my mind is, winner. He’s just a winner. Pure, plain and simple. He gets the job done. Over his career in Clemson he posted a 32-3 record. One of those losses, he started, but only played a quarter before tearing his ACL. There was an injury stigma with Watson during his freshman season. I think that stigma has been dispelled, as he’s played the last two seasons injury free. The other two losses, one was in a National Championship game, the other a one point loss to Pitt, that probably was the spring-board for this seasons National Championship win. But that’s another story for another day. Simply said, the guy knows how to win.
Secondly, Watson has the intangibles that you’re either born with, or you’re not. And most of us aren’t. The level of focus that he maintains, on the field, in the classroom, and in life in general is just short of amazing. He’s always improving, always pushing to be the best of the best. How often do we daydream or just spin our wheels in life? It’s easy to do. This guy doesn’t know how to do that. Watson would succeed in life if he wasn’t a football player. The good lord just decided to bless him athletically. If he were an accountant, he’d be the best accountant in the country. It’s the
little things, the character traits, the focus, the leadership that makes DW4 head and shoulders better than the competition. GM’s are woken at 2am with a call about a player getting a DUI, or getting arrested for domestic violence, it happens all too often. You see it nearly everyday. Drafting Deshaun Watson would be a peace of mind draft pick for any GM in the country. That’s one phone call you wouldn’t have to worry about fielding.
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If the winning DNA and the personal intangibles aren’t enough, he’s been blessed athletically too. Deshaun can make every throw, side line to side line. Vertically, horizontally, in the pocket, on the move. The scenario does not matter. Watson has played under the biggest brightest lights and he thrives where other crack under the pressure. How many people hailed the 2016 Alabama defense the best ever to step foot on a college field? How many said the same thing about the 2015 Bama D? Under the brightest lights on the biggest stage possible Watson strolls out on the field and drops 823 passing yards, 7 touchdowns, 116 yards rushing and another touchdown on the ground. Who does that? Against a team that was coined the best college defense ever assembled? DW4 does it.
There’s nothing left to prove. Bash is accuracy on deep throws if you must find something to knit pick, but numbers don’t lie. In his career DW4 connected on 102 passes of 25 yards or more (Trubisky 41). and 248 passes of 15 yards or more (Trubisky 111). That’s all good and fine, but the number that jumps out to me is his total QBR. Not for his career, but when it matters. When you need a play made and it’s 3rd down and 4 to 3rd down and 10+, isn’t that when you’d want your QB to be at his best? On plays over the last three seasons when facing a 3rd and 4-10+ yards, Watson’s QBR was 158.1. That’s unheard of. The national average for QBR throughout the season was 59.8. Watson finished with a QBR of 84.9. These are numbers that can not be slanted or manipulated. The proof is on film, and in the trophy case.
When asking yourself whom to pick on Draft Day. Also ask yourself; Would Clemson have hoisted a National Championship trophy with Mitch Trubisky at quarterback? No knock on Trubisky, but he’s not Deshaun. And it’s not even close.