Deshaun Watson had a brilliant — albeit short — rookie season with the Houston Texans.
He shined while he was on the field, even when the Texans struggled. Perhaps his most famous moments came early in the season on a Thursday Night Football game against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 2. Seconds after a devastating Geno Atkins hit on the rookie quarterback, he sprinted to the end zone on an electrifying 49-yard touchdown run that helped the Texans pick up the early-season win.
Watson’s season came to an end in early November when he suffered a non-contact ACL injury that devastated the Texans. But the young quarterback has already begun his long road back to starting for Houston, and he’s learned a lot from a derailed Rookie of the Year run that once felt inevitable.
Watson took a few minutes off from the comeback grind to sit down with Uproxx and talk about his rookie season, the challenges of being a young quarterback in the NFL and how early enrollment at Clemson helped him build for the future. He also has some advice for rookie quarterbacks coming into the league this year and described what it’s like to become a role model for others trying to make the leap from college into the NFL.
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Uproxx: This wasn’t the season you wanted as a rookie with your injury, but there were certainly some bright spots. What were some of the highlights for you?
Deshaun Watson: The experience was very fun. There was a lot coming at me fast at one time and just a lot of things going on at once for a young rookie but I think I handled it pretty well. I just tried to make things as simple as possible and focus all my attention and put all my effort into football to make sure I’m doing my job very well each and every week. If I do that, everything else was going to take care of itself. So those weeks that I was playing, and being able to be on the field, I enjoyed it.
There’s such pressure on rookie quarterbacks, and any quarterback really. To take that pressure and succeed despite it, and to have a team trust you to be the guy right away, what did that do to your confidence level as a rookie starter?
My confidence has always been high, regardless of the situation. That’s just how I was raised and where I come from. So regardless of the situation, if I was the starter or if I wasn’t, I was always going to be confident and be prepared as if I were the starter.
For me to have the success that I was having, it kind of just kept the confidence up. I knew I could play at this level. I knew I could do it very very well. So to be prepared and to continue to do your job full speed with the amount of effort that you do each and every time, there shouldn’t be no pressure.
It isn’t easy going to a new city when you’re young, but Houston embraced you and you followed suit. The area had a major disaster with Hurricane Harvey, and you got involved giving back to workers in the Texans organization and community. What was it like to experience that with everyone and become such an important figure to so many?
I just wanted to embrace the community that I was going to be able to live in for a while and make sure that I’m comfortable with the situation. It was just terrible, the hurricane that hit at the beginning of the year. But us players that play for the Texans wanted to give back and show that we care. We wanted to help out and we did that, the city embraced it and it’s been really good so far.
You’ve been talking to a lot of younger quarterbacks through working with Gatorade. What’s it been like to transition from being a college athlete to someone that younger players are going to look up to?
It’s been a weird transition for me, because it happened so fast. But being able to work with Gatorade and being able to give back and show younger quarterbacks that us quarterbacks in the NFL still care about them, it’s awesome. Being able to present an award to JT Daniels was great, I got to see him the last few years do great things at the high school level and now being able to watch him go to USC and see the great things he’s going to do is really great.
A lot of fans want to be experts about football, but what’s something about quarterbacks you think fans get wrong or misunderstand?
Every situation is different. But playing quarterback at the NFL level is very, very hard. To be successful on a consistent level is tough. People are getting paid millions of dollars to stop you as a defender. And so there’s so much that goes into it. There’s injuries, coaching changes, schemes, there’s just so so much that I can name off, but it’s a lot more than just going out there and playing.
Going back to your Clemson days, Dabo is a very charismatic coach. Is there a moment that stands out for you when you played there? Maybe a great speech or crazy moment you had with him?
There’s always moments with Coach Swinney. That’s just the kind of person he is. But there’s maybe not just one that sticks out … actually one of the biggest ones was before I even got to Clemson: he was the coach that gave me my first offer. He told me ‘If you come here we’re going to have a lot of success.’ And he kept his word: he said if I committed I’d have the opportunity to play and we were going to do great things together. And we both did that.
I was going through your Twitter account and saw you engage with a lot of other guys in the league. Have you reached out to guys and asked for advice about being in the NFL? What are your interactions like with other guys who are not teammates?
I mean, a lot of the older guys, the veteran guys, that I’ve talked to just out and about always want success for the younger guys. Especially me coming in and the situation I went through and the success that I had, a lot of people recognize me. It’s just that brotherhood that we’ve created: they want me to be successful off the field and on the field.
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You enrolled early at Clemson. Doing that and taking classes over the summer, is that something you’d recommend for other athletes? What was the advantage to doing that for you?
It just depends on the situation. I think for me, I knew that I was going to have an opportunity to leave early and go to the NFL after my junior year. So for me, I just wanted to make sure that I walk across the stage before I leave campus and that I wouldn’t have to come back in the future. And if I did, it would be to work on my second degree. That was my plan, but I’d recommend get as much education as you can while you can. Because once it’s done it’s kind of hard to go back and do it when you’re like 30 or what you do.
You were a Communications major at Clemson, like me. Do you think you can identify with people better because of that background and theory, as a player and as a person?
Of course. Being able to go to class every day and communicate with everyone was great. I did a lot of speeches and reports and just being able to study people and observe their vibes and their energy, I think all that accounts to the kind of person and the kind of player I am. Being in the media and at social events, making appearances and this and that. I think it was really helpful for me.
I saw you like to tweet out a lot of Vines. Do you have a favorite Vine?
I don’t have a favorite Vine but I just think social media is hilarious. The time and effort that people put in to create videos and tweets that they do is just so funny.
What are your offseason plans? Are you doing anything different this summer because of the injury?
No, I already started rehab. So it’s just the same things: grinding. Getting back at it.
Anything you’ll take out of the first season or advice from teammates about preparing for the season that will change anything you’ll do this summer?
I just need to build on the success that I had and the faith I have. Just continue to find ways to get better.
