The Houston Texans did what all quarterback desperate teams did in the first round of the 2017 NFL Draft. They moved up to get their guy. Houston has never had a quarterback that Texans could really write home about. After the gross disaster that was the Brock Osweiler experiment in 2016, 2017 is the year that Deshaun Watson became a Texan.
Houston traded up from No. 25 to No. 12 with the Cleveland Browns to take the best player in Clemson Tigers football history. All Watson did at Clemson these last three years win big games for the Tigers. Clemson won two ACC Championships, played in two national titles and won the 2016 National Championship.
Watson fell to No. 12 and was the third quarterback off the board for predominantly three reasons: 1.) He threw a lot of picks in college. 2.) What is his NFL prototype? 3.) He only has an average NFL arm. However, he makes up for it in the intangibles. Saying a guy is a winner sounds stupid, but nobody has befuddled Nick Saban more than Watson did at Clemson.
Watson goes to a strong offensive-minded coach in Bill O’Brien. Houston has a Super Bowl roster minus quarterback. Watson will have the opportunity to win the starting job in 2017, as he only has to unseat Tom Savage and Brandon Weeden. Playing in a southern climate for a pass-first head coach could transform Watson into the quarterback of Houston’s dreams.