COMMENTARY: Watson is the Right Choice
Thursday, March 02, 2017
Austin Darrow
The NFL Scouting Combine kicked off today and this is where NFL teams main priority should be, not the free agent market.
Teams who are looking at the QB position should be eyeing up one player and one player only; Deshaun Watson. Not DeShone Kizer or Mitch Trubisky.
Watson is the best QB out of the trio being discussed for the first round. I’d put them as Watson, Trubisky and Kizer in that order.
Kizer, Notre Dame, threw for 58 percent this season. 58 percent is not getting the job done in the NFL.
The window to throw gets tighter in the NFL and Kizer couldn’t complete more than that with the 28th toughest schedule in the NCAA. Watson and the Clemson Tigers had the third toughest.
Kizer against Stanford, who was a legitimate team, threw for 154 yards and two picks. Against USC, another legitimate team, 53 percent completion percentage and a pick and a lost fumble (No TD’s). How about when he played NC State? Didn’t even complete 10 passes and threw a pick with a lost fumble.
He looked great against Navy, Syracuse, Nevada, and Army. Those teams don’t have an NFL player in their programs. It’s easy to look good against a defense who has one star players on their team or a team that fields guys who will be fighting wars for us.
Kizer struggled against teams with NFL caliber players, so it wouldn’t surprise me if Cleveland botched another QB.
Trubisky, UNC, is better than Kizer, but doesn’t have many big wins under his belt and he doesn’t have enough games under his belt. This was his first season as the starter.
Trubisky’s biggest win was against a struggling Florida State team and possibly a Miami team that isn’t quite there yet.
Turned the ball over three times against Stanford and lost, without them having Christian McCaffrey. Virginia Tech, three turnovers.
Again, North Carolina had the 29th toughest schedule, one behind Kizer and the Irish. Trubisky couldn’t get to 10 wins. He looked good against the Citadel, James Madison, Illinois, but let me remind you, they don’t have an NFL defense.
I’d like to see Trubisky play another year and get exposed to some tougher teams.
Watson has the experience and exposure. He played two consecutive NFL seasons and beat an Alabama defense and took them down to the wire the year before.
Watson has played through the hype of facing Lamar Jackson and winning. Beating a Nick Saban defense. Shutting out an Urban Meyer team in a playoff.
He had the top five toughest schedules both years he started. He beat Jimbo Fisher’s Seminoles twice. Watson has nothing to prove, he has played in a trap game and prevailed from it. (NC State)
Watson has played in 15 games two straight years, that’s one less game an NFL team plays, and has the big moments in him. There’s no reason he shouldn’t be the first quarterback off the board.
Trubisky doesn’t have the games under his belt and he doesn’t have the moments in him. Kizer is just not going to be anything. Watson is a proven leader and winner.