- The Houston Texans made a big trade Thursday night, forfeiting their 2018 first-round pick to move up 13 spots and draft QB Deshaun Watson out of Clemson.
- Time is running short in Houston after another failed experiment at quarterback by Bill O’Brien’s regime.
- The team were desperate for a signal-caller after giving up on Brock Osweiler after a disastrous season.
- Watson could legitimately claim to be the top quarterback in this class, but his fit in Houston appears awkward.
- Bill O’Brien runs a pro-style offense with deeper drops to test intermediate coverage.
- In contrast, Watson played in a spread style attack at Clemson, relying on a number of short drops and quick-hitting passes to get into a rhythm.
- Overall, the Tigers called 3-step drops on 45.1 percent of snaps in 2016, almost four times as often as Houston (12.2 percent).
- Further highlighting the difference, Watson averaged a time to throw of 2.28 second, significantly faster than Houston’s quarterbacks’ average of 2.66.
- One of Watson’s greatest assets is his accuracy on throws around the line of scrimmage; 14.1 percent of his passes were wide receiver screens in 2016.
- Houston rarely employed the quick game last season, with Bill O’Brien calling wide screens on only 1.9 percent of plays.
- Slow starts were a problem for Watson at times in 2016 – in particular in games against Troy, Georgia Tech, and Florida State – but once he found his rhythm, he was unstoppable.
- Watson’s intelligence and work ethic suggests he can adapt to the Texans’ requirements, but his new head coach must tweak his offense to maximize his production.
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