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How is Watson not a bigger prospect?


luvyablue256

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Don't forget Locker.

I sure as hell hope he doesn't end up in Houston.

Locker didn't have college success... he's truly one of the worst picks in NFL history. If we were even a medium sized market we would have taken so much more flak over it. 

Because teams learned from the VY experience. And Vick. And Kordell. And Kaepernick. And RG3. And all of the other mobile QBs who went nowhere once teams learned that they weren't good enough passers.

Of course, there are plenty of prolific college passers who had no NFL game either. It isn't just a mobile QB thing. Danny Wuerffel couldn't hack it in the NFL. Watson just fits the mobile mold better.

Edited by Starkiller
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We're going to look back at whatever teams pass on Watson and the narrative will be altered that he was the obvious guy to take due to his college success.

He's better than any QB that came out last year and is a victim of having enough game film to where you can identify thus highlight some flaws.

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Here's what Walter Football has to say about Watson.  They expect him to be the second QB taken.

 
  1. Clemson_logo.gif Deshaun Watson*, QB, Clemson  
    Height: 6-2. Weight: 221. Hand: 9.75. 
    40 Time: 4.66. 
    Projected Round (2017): 1. 

    4/25/17: While Watson has a lot of flaws as a prospect, he will most likely go in the first round and could go highly because of the demand for quarterbacks. There is no doubt that Watson has great intangibles as a hard worker with good character off the field and leadership in the locker room. Watson does have a good arm with a quick release, mobility, toughness, and is a winner. Perhaps those strengths will be enough for him to overcome his negatives and be a starting quarterback.

    I surveyed teams around the league to see where their initial draft grades were for Watson. Two playoff teams told me they had third-round grades on Watson. One said it was on the low end as a third- to fourth-rounder. Another playoff team told Walt that they had a third-round grade on Watson. Two other teams said they had second-round grades on Watson. However, a number of team sources think that Watson would still be a first-round quarterback, and similar to Teddy Bridgewater a team could trade back into the first round because of the dire need at the position across the NFL. Watson benefits from comparisons to Dak Prescott and also benefits from coaches getting involved in the draft process during the spring in draft meetings. Watson threw the ball well at the combine and did well in the team interviews - as expected. 

    In this draft analyst's opinion, I would grade Watson as a third-round pick for the 2017 NFL Draft. Watson was off with his accuracy for a lot of his final year, displaying poor ball placement, especially when going downfield. He missed a lot of potential big plays as a result. Watson has major room for improvement with his field vision, ball placement, and accuracy. He did finish the regular season playing significantly better, but that doesn't make up for the inaccuracy in the first two-thirds of the season. He also threw way too many interceptions (17). In comparison, Prescott threw only five interceptions as a senior and 16 over his final two seasons. In 2016, Watson completed 67 percent of his passes for 4,593 yards with 41 touchdowns and 17 interceptions. He had nine rushing touchdowns as well. 

    On top of that, Watson played in a college spread offense that doesn't correlate well to the NFL. Thus, he's going to need to learn working under center, operating the huddle, footwork, not having coaching boards predetermine plays, calling audibles, calling line checks, and not being a running quarterback.  

    7/29/16: Watson played really well to lead Clemson to the National Championship game, and in that title tilt, he threw for over 400 yards and four touchdowns against an Alabama defense that featured tons of future NFL talent. Watson completed 68 percent of his passes in 2015 for 4,104 yards with 35 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. On the ground, he averaged 5.3 yards per carry for 1,105 yards with 12 scores. 

    Watson has a decent arm, excellent athleticism, and can show some superb accuracy. However, he is undersized and doesn't play in a pro-style offense. His numbers are vastly inflated by his college offense. Operating under center will be one thing for him to learn. Watson also has to improve his field vision. He flashes good field vision to work through his progressions on some plays, but he is inconsistent and he can also look to run too soon. Watson won't be able to run as much in the NFL and he needs to get faster at working through his progressions. His pocket-passing process has to get quicker as well.
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24 minutes ago, Starkiller said:

Because teams learned from the VY experience. And Vick. And Kordell. And Kaepernick. And RG3. And all of the other mobile QBs who went nowhere once teams learned that they weren't good enough passers.

Of course, there are plenty of prolific college passers who had no NFL game either. It isn't just a mobile QB thing. Danny Wuerffel couldn't hack it in the NFL. Watson just fits the mobile mold better.

Michael Vick went to jail, he was a very good QB.  Even after spending time in jail he came back and won a starting job.  

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1 minute ago, JakePA_Titan said:

This happens a good amount though....

If they knew how to scout QBs, Rodgers would have been top 3.

I won't go into Brady because he wasn't even on anyone radar.

But it happened with Wilson, happened with Romo...

QBs are the hardest position to evaluate.

Its not that its hard. The evaluations are just misguided. Intangibles carry more weight than actual football production, and in many cases, owners are the deciding votes in the room on draft night (ex. Jared Goff). 

Take Locker for example. Everybody with eyes knew he was a miseval and a reach. But he was a great interviewer who was a hard working, lunch pale guy who turned out to be a garbage pale kid. 

 

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Evaluating QBs comes down to traits above all others.

Accuracy and Decision Making.

Arm Strength, athleticism, etc are all nice to haves, but a prospects grade should really be defined by those two characteristics.  Jake Locker is a great example of having plenty of ticks in the wrong boxes.

I haven't reviewed a lot of DeShaun Watson, but it sounds like in those two fundamental areas of accuracy and decision making, he is probably a solid B.  Marcus is an A, and that is why one prospect was the 2nd overall pick, and the other won't be.

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