The Biggest Draft Prospect Ever
Desmond Watson is a defensive tackle for the Florida Gators who is eligible for the upcoming draft. He is 464 lbs. For those of you who live in sensible countries who use sensible forms of measurement, that’s 210 kilograms. For those of you in England who use an even dumber form of weight measurement, that’s 33 stone. If Watson maintains that weight, he will easily become the heaviest draft pick in NFL history.
Watson is not expected to be a high pick in the draft, frequently listed as a potential day 3 late-rounder. That chance has increased significantly this past week after his pro day, when the big man…well, biggest man, put up a frankly amazing athletic performance for a man his size.
Watson is 6’6. He did 36 reps of 225lbs on the bench press. He recorded a 25inch vertical jump, which is frankly amazing. He plays a position that does not require leaving the ground for any reason, but he can still do it. He managed to run a 40 yard dash in just under 6 seconds. I know 6 seconds doesn’t sound super impressive; that’s what Rich Eisen runs close to every year for his charity sprint, but Desmond Watson is at least 2 full Rich Eisens, fresh off Thanksgiving dinners. What astounded me most when I looked him up was that he played 51 straight games. Yeah. He never missed a game. He only got bigger, starting his freshman season at 380. This dude is a legitimate freak of nature. Football players already push the limits of athlete size in a lot of ways but Watson is firmly in Sumo Wrestler territory. Strongmen rarely reach his size.
I don’t know how much potential he has. The fact that he was barely viewed as a potential prospect at all until this little hype wave has me worried. To be a guy that size and mostly viewed as a novelty tells me he wasn’t anything special as an actual football player despite having one of the biggest advantages a guy in his position can have. His durability so far might be amazing but he’s young. We are all more durable when young. He’s not going to be able to maintain that weight and play for long. It’s gonna catch up to him. His best bet would be to leverage his size to get him a spot by some curious team and then work on shedding at least some of that weight. He’s always going to be a big boy but he is one of the very rare football players who could drop 100lbs and still outweigh most of his opposition. We know he’s got the strength, if he could move a little faster he’d be a fright. If he learns some technique in the process and manages to stay upright? Well, maybe he could last longer than we think.
I’m rooting for him. The more we talk about him, the better a chance he has at getting a chance. Spread the word, Get the Big Boy a job. I wanna see him eat a runningback mid-cutback.
As fun a pick as Desmond Watson would be, the reason he’s not really on anyone’s radar (and unlikely to be drafted or make a roster) is likely due to the limited number of snaps he can realistically play. He was mostly used as a situational player while at Florida, and even up through his final season, they were trying to do everything they could to help him shed weight to no avail. Even if he were to cut down to around 400 pounds, that would still set him up to have an extremely short shelf life and limited usage given that teams are looking for speed at every position now, and he’d really only be useful as a run-stuffer in obvious run situations. Not exactly worth the investment if I had to guess.
With all that being said, though, if he didn’t play for one of UGA’s biggest rivals, I’d fully expect him to end up with Philly and turn into a perennial All-Pro level player.
Yeah, I’ve got to imagine the amount of energy it takes to move 400+ pounds with the speed and strength required at the NFL level is just unsustainable.
I just did a bit of research to see what some notable nose tackles have looked like throughout history and was pretty shocked:
Vince Wilfork: 6′ 2″ // 325 lbs
Pat Williams: 6′ 3″ // 317 lbs
Dontari Poe: 6′ 4″ // 344 lbs
Vita Vea: 6′ 4″ // 347 lbs
Ted Washington: 6′ 5″ // 365 lbs
Jordan Davis: 6′ 6″ // 337 lbs
Nobody near the size of Watson, with some pretty notable names coming in well below. I was shocked that guys like Wilfork and Williams were so much smaller! Clearly there’s something to be said for shooting the gap and finding an efficient middle ground between size, speed, and strength.
Going to the colts with their first round pick purely on athletic intangibles and “potential”
Come on, Desmond! I’m gonna pull for him just because I hope he’s a happy goofy dude and we have an even bigger even happier version of Vince Wilfork on our hands.
In fairness, I remember people poo-pooing the Giants for picking JPP based solely on “his wingspan,” (back when the Giants knew how to draft quasi-competently) and all I remember reading about him was the wingspan and how he was a freak of nature. And if you ignore the whole fireworks thing… that pick was crucial in helping them get that 2nd Eli Ring.
Maybe this dude could help some team turn the tush push… into an ass blast. 😯
“Maybe this dude could help some team turn the tush push… into an ass blast.”
Came here to say this. Legs strong enough to lift him 25″ off the ground can do a lot against a Tush Push formation. At least slow it down enough to get some other big bodies in there to stop it.
If I were his HC, I’d save him the energy of even having to run to the sideline and leave him on the field literally all game. He can protect the QB, stuff the run, and perform on ST without even having to do anything beyond lifting up his arms.
As a Florida fan, every goal line defense situation he was right there and you weren’t going to QB sneak past him.
If I were a GM, I’d burn a 7th round pick on him as a project. With good NFL coaching you never know, he might turn into a pretty good player and if nothing else he is great at the goal line.
The whole concept of the gators being pissed about their own likeness being used without consent I find hilarious
I’m hoping Dallas takes him. He could improve the run defense just by being a human speed bump.
Those gators are one of the cutest things you’ve ever drawn Dave. I almost want plushies of them.
For the first time in 7-8 years of reading this strip, I feel seen.
I’m reminded of that big Tackle from Baylor who used to line up at TE every now and then to catch TDs. The guy was like 6’8″, 400 lbs. Way too big to meaningfully play the position, but also juuuuuust athletic enough to be a novelty. I don’t think he even got drafted.
I just remember the Perna video on Watson where he shows an RB see Watson simply step into a running lane and quickly nopes the fuck out to go the opposite way.