Clemson Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney thinks Deshaun Watson should be the No. 1 pick by the Cleveland Browns because he is pretty much Michael Jordan.
It’s been a pretty good January for Clemson Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney. His 2016 Tigers team defeated the Alabama Crimson Tide to win the national title and he has three of his best players playing in the Senior Bowl in Mobile. Swinney may also see his star quarterback Deshaun Watson go No. 1 overall in the 2017 NFL Draft.
Swinney was in attendance Tuesday at the first Senior Bowl practice to see Ben Boulware, Carlos Watkins and Artavis Scott practice for Hue Jackson’s South team. He said that Jackson, whose Cleveland Browns have the No. 1 overall pick, would be foolish to not take Watson with the No. 1 overall selection. Swinney equated it to “passing on Michael Jordan.”
#Clemson's Dabo Sweeney says If #Browns Hue Jackson passes on Deshaun Watson at 1 he's "passing on Michael Jordan" pic.twitter.com/OLxZGwrliD
— Mary Kay Cabot (@MaryKayCabot) January 24, 2017
Besides shamelessly promoting his own player, we can extract three things from Swinney’s comments:
1.) Even Swinney doesn’t know Watson’s NFL prototype. That’s been Watson’s biggest criticism entering the NFL Draft — who does he compare to? To Swinney, he’s absolutely the Michael Jordan of football.
2.) Swinney may be unaware that a pass rushing beast thrived in College Station, Texas by the name of Myles Garrett. Cleveland will likely take the best pass rushing prospect in well over a decade in Garrett with the No. 1 overall pick. If not, he’s going No. 2 to the San Francisco 49ers.
3.) Swinney is not familiar with how the 1984 NBA Draft went down. The Houston Rockets did pass on Jordan, taking some guy by the name of Hakeem Olajuwon. Needless to say, The Dream was one of the best players the NBA has ever seen. Sam Bowie would have been good for the Portland Trail Blazers, but he got hurt like so many players in the Rip City saga.
So what if Watson is Jordan and goes No. 3? Well, that wouldn’t be a bad thing, as John Fox’s Chicago Bears have the No. 3 overall pick. The Bears need a quarterback. Fox is coaching the North team at the Senior Bowl. You know what? The Windy City needs another star now that Derrick Rose is no-showing for games and not passing for the New York Knicks.
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There’s also a chance that Cleveland can still take Watson in the first-round without using its No. 1 overall pick on him. The Browns also have the No. 12 pick in the 2017 NFL Draft from last year’s trade with the Philadelphia Eagles. Cleveland can use that pick to get themselves a franchise quarterback in addition to a generationally gifted pass rusher in Garrett. That guy could very well be Watson.