Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers told the Greenville News during the BMW Celebrity Pro Am earlier this week that former Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson did some amazing things in his first season with the Houston Texans.
Though Watson played in just seven games before tearing the ACL in his right knee during a non-contact practice drill last fall, he still threw 19 touchdown passes for the Houston Texans, the most touchdown passes by a rookie in his first seven games in NFL history.
Watson actually led the NFL in touchdown passes prior to his injury.
“He did some amazing things,” Rodgers said via The Greenville News. “Obviously he’s extremely gifted athletically and can throw all over the field. That gives him a lot of different weapons to use in that offense.”
Watson’s first NFL season came to an abrupt end, obviously, but he still threw for 1,699 yards, averaged 242.7 yards per game, completed 61.8 percent of his passes and had a quarterback rating of 103.0.
Now the question is how good of a sophomore season can the former Tiger have? Rodgers, who is heading into his 14th season in the NFL, admitted the sophomore season for an NFL quarterback is always the hardest.
“I don’t think he needs any advice,” Rodgers said. “He had a fantastic year. As he’ll find out, the second year is maybe the toughest year for a quarterback because you have an entire offseason for teams – especially teams in your division – to study you. It makes things a little harder. I played pretty decent my first year and came back in ’09 and was seeing some different looks because there’s a lot more film on you.”
Like Watson, Rodgers season was cut short due to injury in 2017. He was placed on injured reserve with a broken collarbone in October and missed seven games before returning in Week 15. After the Packers were eliminated from playoff contention, Rodgers sat out the last two games.
Watson is expected back on the practice field for Houston this coming week as the Texans hosts organize team activities (OTAs). Texans’ head coach Bill O’Brien says watching Watson play and how he prepares each day is what makes him so fun to coach.
“The things I have noticed in the year and a half that I have been involved with him really is his intelligence, his poise, it is his hunger to learn,” O’Brien said last week on The NFL Network’s Good Morning Football. “He has a passion for football and he has a passion for trying to get better every day. He has a phrase that he talks about and that is he ‘tries to get one percent better every day.’
“I think that is the philosophy he brings into the locker room. He has a real good way about him and he is a fun guy to coach. I look forward to meeting with him every day and watching him do a good job on the field.”