a very exciting, young team with a rookie of the year QB on the cheap. New defensive minded coach with great offensive minded assistant coaches. A beast DL coach and all their picks and extra 3rd. Having a franchise QB @ low rookie contract is something Texans need to give them cap relief and flexibility. If Cassero trades Watson it better be for a high first and second, a stud CB or defensive starter and a first next year.
I’ll always hope for the best here but since 1973 when the Chargers drafted Dan Fouts, being from Eugene and the U of O, once they drafted Herbert, it caught my attention. Brandon Staley is an absolute stud young coach, Texans had a chance to hire but really showed they don’t understand analytics, how to develop and treat players, in general how to win in this league.
Best trade for Watson would be for the Jags #1 overall (Texans draft Trevor Lawrence) and Jags 2nd. Rebuild with fresh start and cap room.
In a heart beat. His analyses top Watson's by far. It is difficult to find fault in his game.
TREVOR LAWRENCE AS ADVERTISED AT PRO DAY
The 2021 draft news cycle got a kickstart this week with Clemson QB Trevor Lawrence staging his personal Pro Day at the Tigers’ indoor facility on Friday. And the supernova of a quarterback prospect touched all the bases in the hour or so that he and a group of 31 NFL evaluators, from 17 teams, were out there.
The day started with Clemson coach Dabo Swinney addressing the scouts and coaches, telling them what kind of kid the 21-year-old Lawrence is—“He isn’t marrying his high school sweetheart. He’s marrying his
junior high sweetheart,” Swinney told them. It ended with Lawrence fist-bumping every NFL person he saw leaving the facility, while thanking them for coming, something they all took note of.
“Kid just gets it,” says a Clemson staffer, when I apprised him of that. “Every single bit of it.”
And in between Swinney’s words and Lawrence’s farewells was a performance that was short of perfect, but every bit as electric as you’d expect from a guy who’s been discussed in an NFL context since his senior year at Cartersville (Ga.) High.
“He was as impressive as advertised,” says one veteran evaluator in attendance. “The ball jumped out of his hand, even if it sailed on him a couple times. He throws with good base and balance, and he’s such a good athlete for his size. To see a guy at 6-foot-6, with that kind of foot quickness and agility is really, really impressive.
“It’s really a combination of the physical ability and everything you hear about his intangibles, how good a person he is, how smart he is, what a great decision-maker he is. That physical skill set, and the intangibles, and coach Swinney let everyone know what kind of kid he is.”
And this particular evaluator adds, “His best throw was his last throw, obviously they were showing him push it down the field. But in general, really good throws outside the numbers, that ball was tight, you could see it spinning so tight out of his hand. The couple times it sailed, he got a little loose. But that’s very nitpicky. It was a really strong workout.”
“Really good day overall,” says a second evaluator who was there. “Everything he showed on tape showed up in the Pro Day. He’s big, athletic, he can throw from the pocket, he can throw on the run going either direction. He’s accurate to all levels. … A little bit [imperfect], there were a couple things. The final deep ball was great. The other two weren’t his best throws. … A couple to his left just sailed on him a little.
“But the only guy out there who he played with was [Cornell] Powell. He just got to work with the other guys recently. It was really good overall. The dude showed why he’s going first overall.”
This evaluator added that even in the limited rough spots, “He was unfazed with the incompletions, whether it was his fault or not. He has great presence, a great demeanor, and an ability to interact with all the people there.”
Also in attendance was his next head coach, Urban Meyer, who Lawrence had actually consulted with on whether or not he should go through with the Pro Day. The decision to do it this early was connected to a call to have a torn labrum in his left (non-throwing) shoulder surgically repaired ahead of his NFL career starting.
Meyer laid out three scenarios for Lawrence. He could delay the surgery to allow for him to throw to his own receivers at Clemson’s Pro Day on March 11. He could just eschew throwing all together, since he didn’t really have much to prove in order to be the first pick in April. Or he could try and put together an early Pro Day, without as much prep, and with a scramble for receivers (ex-Jets/Clemson WR Charone Peake and ex-Niners practice-squad WR Chris Finke were lining up alongside Powell).
“He said, ‘Let’s go’,” Meyer told NFL Network’s Jane Slater after the Pro Day. “That’s a guy that loves football.”
It’s also a guy who’ll be a Jaguar in two months. But you knew that already—and so did the 28 NFL guys who were there from other teams. What those guys did walk away with was a little more context on where Lawrence stacks up historically as a prospect, as well as a visual setting of the bar for their trips to BYU (Zach Wilson), Ohio State (Justin Fields) and North Dakota State (Trey Lance) to see the quarterbacks who’ve spent the last couple years chasing No. 16.
“You hear everyone talk about generational talent,” says the second evaluator, “well, the only one I’ve studied who’s like him is Andrew Luck. Between those two, I’d rank Andrew slightly ahead of Trevor. But it’s close.”
Which is why we can say now, on February 15, that the first few minutes of draft night won’t bring any surprises.