Grading Texans’ first round pick of Deshaun Watson

The Houston Texans did it. They finally traded up, and they finally drafted a quarterback in the first round of the NFL Draft when they took Clemson’s Deshaun Watson .

The Texans and Browns made yet another offseason trade involving a quarterback. The Texans gave up this year’s first round pick–pick 25–and next year’s first round selection to move up to number 12.

Deshaun Watson is coming off of a National Championship victory and put up great numbers at Clemson.

Watson threw for 10,163 yards, 90 touchdowns, and did so with an average completion percentage of 67.5%.

In his collegiate career, Watson continuously came up big in prime time. In his two National Championship appearances against the vaunted Alabama Crimson Tide defense, he threw for 825 yards, 7 touchdowns, and one interception.

Watson holds the first and third rankings for best quarterback performance in a bowl game since 2000 per fivethirtyeight.com.

Watson backed up his talk about a claim he made about making a championship game:

Now to the draft grade: A

The Houston Texans were aggressive and got the quarterback that was at the top of their board. As it has been reported, they fell in love with Watson during the draft process.

Yes, the Texans gave up a lot for Watson. That is what keeps me from giving them a higher grade. With all the quarterbacks going early, the team felt the need to jump the gun; and I am okay with that.

The Texans got themselves a face of the franchise quarterback, the only one in this class I believe.

Franchise quarterbacks need to be great on and off the field as leaders and players.

This trait sold general manager Rick Smith and the Texans.

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As Smith said in a press conference after selecting Watson, that “He’s got that winning gene. That leadership, it’s infectious”

Deshaun Watson has the ability to start at some point during his rookie season if need be.

Watson came from a Clemson offense that is similar to the Texans’ in terms of what he’ll be asked to do.

He can make all the throws in a pro route tree, and he is mobile enough to survive some of the Texans’ offensive line woes.

Watson had some questions after placing 12th out of the quarterbacks at the combine with a 20 on his Wonderlic test. However, I do not believe he will struggle with the Texans offense as much as that one test may allude to.

When it comes to bad that comes along with Watson. He had some issues taking care of the football in college with his 32 career interceptions. That still puts his TD/Int ratio at a 2.81. This would place in the top ten among current NFL starters.

Out of all of the quarterbacks in this draft class, Watson was my favorite due to his collegiate experience coupled with his overall talent and big game expertise. He is a franchise quarterback. Here is a brief video of Watson’s off-field accomplishment:

Houston, you have a quarterback. Finally, the Texans have a quarterback to believe in. A proven winner to believe in. A champion to believe in. DeShaun Watson can take the reins of this team and bring them farther than they have ever gone.

Go Getters

After watching Andre Johnson retire earlier this month, the Texans ultimately decided they did not want to waste another tremendously talented player, such as Deandre Hopkins and J.J. Watt, because they did not have a quarterback.

Now the Texans have a quarterback they can build around.