Houston Texans: Deshaun Watson confident in Will Fuller

Deshaun Watson knows he’ll need Will Fuller in 2020 for the Houston Texans to have success in the AFC South.

This offseason has been nothing short of interesting for Deshaun Watson and the Houston Texans, and that includes seeing Will Fuller jumping up to the No. 1 wide receiver spot. No worries, though — when Fuller is on the field, he’s a very good player, and a player whom Watson has confidence in entering training camp.

The 2020 NFL season for the Houston Texans has them entering maybe as the third-best team in the AFC South — according to the oddsmakers — even though they have won the division the past two seasons, also winning those titles as underdogs.

The big reason why the Houston Texans are being overlooked in 2020 is the offseason trade that sent All-Pro wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins to the Arizona Cardinals, leaving Texans Pro Bowl quarterback Deshaun Watson without his top receiving target.

That said, the Texans and Watson have moved on, and now it seems that Will Fuller has taken over as the No. 1. If Fuller is healthy — he hasn’t played 16 games in a season — the Texans will have a real-deal standout wide receiver on their hands for Deshaun Watson to target in the passing game.

Houston Texans: Deshaun Watson comments on Will Fuller before season

In a recent press conference for the Houston Texans media, Watson spoke about his top wide receiver, saying the following about Fuller when asked about him:

"“Will’s going to ball out. Will’s going to be one of the best receivers in the league. He came back a lot stronger, a lot faster. Will’s really good, very confident in himself and what he did over the offseason. I’m very confident in what he can do. We all are as an organization and as a team. There’s no doubt that Will can take that role and do great things with it.”"

Again, when Fuller is on the field he’s very exciting, but he’s never been the top target for the Texans since joining the team as he was also the second-best wide receiver with Hopkins on the roster.

Now with Fuller being “THE” guy for the Texans, he does have teammates capable of drawing coverage away from him just as he did for Hopkins for four seasons. With the Texans having Brandin Cooks, Randall Cobb and Kenny Stills as veterans in the receiver depth chart, plus the likes of DeAndre Carter, Keke Coutee and rookie Isaiah Coulter in the mix as well, Fuller does have a very great opportunity in front of him to take his game to the next level.

Fuller in his first four seasons, even when battling injuries, is still averaging 14.3 yards per reception, and two seasons ago he averaged a career-high 15.7 ypr. Last season, Fuller finished with 49 receptions for 670 yards and three touchdowns, including a top reception of 54 yards. His career-best reception is 73 yards in 2018.

Speaking of touchdowns, Fuller has 16 career touchdowns with his career-high coming in 2017 when he totaled seven touchdowns. Fuller is more than capable of having a 1,000-yard receiving season in 2020, but the main part of this is just staying on the field, as he was on pace to achieve the 1,000-yard feat in 2019 but he missed five games.

Fuller is also one of the players all Texans fans need to be excited for as seeing him in year five with Deshaun Watson back at quarterback is going to be exciting. Don’t be surprised or shocked when Fuller and Watson compile big numbers through the air, as the confidence seems to be high for Fuller when it comes to his quarterback, and that is the opinion that matters the most.