Quote:
Originally Posted by ThaVirus
Bro, come on now. There are not 15 QBs in the NFL who are better than Deshaun Watson.
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You're gonna make me make my list, aren't you? I have no disrespect for Watson, honestly. Had the Chiefs picked him you better believe he'd be my main man for life and my dream QB - because the Chiefs would have finally drafted a QB in the first. But still. He's not Top 5. You're completely right, btw, there aren't 15 QB's better than Watson. I didn't put a lot of thought into that 10-16 number (I misread your post and didn't realize you were referring to Alex). But the difference between Watson and a Top 5 is the exact same difference between him and the middle of the pack. Let's look at Watson's 2019 numbers.
Passing Yards: 3,852 (13th)
YPA: 7.8 (12th)
AYPA: 7.7 (11th)
YPG: 256.8 (11th)
Rating: 98.0 (11th)
TD% 5.3 (9th)
INT% 2.4 (20th)
Touchdowns: 26 (10th)
Watson is Top 5 in completion percentage (coming in at 5th) but he was also ranked #1 in sacks for the second straight year, coming in with 55 this year. He took 62 in 2018. This is where I feel the Smith comparison shines the brightest. The Texans invested heavily to improve their OL after 2018 and it didn't end up mattering all that much. Houston's (@ BattleRedBlog) own fans analyzed his sacks from 2018 and found that around 35% of them were due to Watson holding onto the ball too long. I believe Watson, like Smith, makes his line look far worse than it actually is and I feel that is a major concern to his game. Honestly, the criticism this forum is so quick to tag onto Lamar Jackson as an argument for why Lamar isn't elite should be tagged to Watson. I also am curious to see how Watson adapts to losing Hopkins this year.
If I had to rank my Top 10, I'd go..
1. Mahomes
2. Wilson
(There is a big gap here)
3. Rodgers
4. Lamar (hard to place him at the moment)
5. Brees
6. Ryan
7. Dak
8. Stafford
9. Rapesburger
10. Watson
11. Wentz (Wentz would be #10 for me if it weren't for his durability concerns).