Houston Texans: Deshaun Watson excited entering first season healthy as starting quarterback
By Jair Lopez
Houston Texans Deshaun Watson will be entering his first season healthy as the pre-determined starting quarterback.
Houston Texans franchise quarterback Deshaun Watson was one of the players made available for the Texans player press conference. He will be entering his third season in the NFL after being drafted with the 12th overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft. Watson entered his rookie season expecting to develop as the Texans rolled out with Tom Savage getting most of the first-team reps in training camp and preseason as the starting quarterback.
However, it took only one half of football for head coach Bill O’Brien to revert course and insert Watson as the starting quarterback for the remaining half of the game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Although the game ended in defeat, O’Brien gave his vote in confidence in Watson and made him the starter moving forward.
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Watson was only able to start in 6 games in his rookie season due to tearing his ACL in practice and finished the season 3-3 as a starter. He completed 126 of the 204 passes attempted for a 61.8 percent completion rate, 1699 passing yards, and throwing for 19 touchdowns to only eight interceptions.
Entering the 2018 season, Watson was limited to the start of Texans offseason activities as he continued his rehabilitation after undergoing surgery to repair his ACL injury. Even though he eased his way back into football shape towards the start of the regular season, he led the Texans to an 11-5 record and a return to the NFL playoffs.
He finished the season completing 345 of the 505 passes attempted for
a 68.3 completion percentage, 4,165 passing yards, and throwing for 26 touchdowns to nine interceptions.
Entering his first season healthy as the starting quarterback, Watson recognized he will have the opportunity to actually dedicate an entire offseason on work on improving his craft instead of worrying about his timeline on returning back to the football field.
“Right now, I’m just trying to focus on these nine weeks and that really is to master my craft, correct all the mistakes we did last year. So, really get back to the basics, fundamentals, footwork, operation of the offense, take my knowledge of the defense recognition to another level. My knowledge of the offense and really controlling what I can do at the line of scrimmage and really just building myself as a leader and embracing that Year three role as a quarterback in this organization.”
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Watson will be working with recently promoted offensive coordinator Tim Kelly and new quarterback coach Carl Smith who worked with Seattle Seahawks Pro Bowl quarterback Russell Wilson since being drafted in the third round in 2012.