Fox broadcaster Charles Davis is one of the more well-versed media members in both the NFL and college football world.
Clemson’s stunning win over Alabama is still the buzz around the entire country Tuesday morning, and Davis joined KNBR 1050’s The Audible to discuss Deshaun Watson’s performance in particular.
“He’s the best big game quarterback out of the kids I’ve seen putting in for the draft,” Davis said. “Look at his run the last two years. ACC championship game, playoff semifinal, final against Alabama. The one he lost to Alabama really put him on the map. Everybody said, ‘Oh my god, who is this kid?’
“I talked with individual Alabama players post-season last year, and individually — this wasn’t a group question — without much prompting, all of them gave me some form or another of this statement: Deshaun Watson was the one kid we couldn’t break at Clemson. And that was last year. Think about what they are saying about him this year.”
Davis said as of right now, he would still be leery of drafting any of these quarterbacks with the No. 2 overall pick — which includes UNC’s Mitch Trubisky and Notre Dame’s DeShone Kizer. In the last two NFL Drafts, quarterbacks have been selected one and two.
“Picks made out of panic set you back further,” Davis said. “So you’ve got to be convinced. In my mind, as we sit here today on January 10th — you can ask me again as we go through the draft if you so like because the process, it’s like Nick Saban says, we’ve got a lot to go through on the process — I’d be very leery about taking a quarterback high this year. I really would.
“Last year, (Carson) Wentz and (Jared) Goff, I had my doubts then. (Marcus) Mariota and (Jameis) Winston, I was convinced they should go one and two. So that’s just where I am. And I thought last year, Wentz and Goff, I would not have taken either one before Mariota and Winston. This year, I don’t know if I’ve seen anyone so far that I would take ahead of Wentz and Goff. So that’s just where I’m at right now on January 10th.”
It’s never good to reach or panic at the quarterback position. But the positives could start outweighing the negatives in the case of Watson. The Clemson QB threw 41 touchdowns and 17 interceptions in 2016, finishing second in the Heisman Trophy voting.
“Here’s the deal: does he have flaws? Of course, every quarterback does,” Davis said. “Are we going to pick them apart until the tenth degree? Of course we are. That’s what we do. There’s too much time between now and the draft.
“But positive side? If the stage is big, don’t you want No. 4 on it? Because he shows up. And he shows up in a big way. Look at these performances. That was Alabama. That wasn’t Sidewash State. That was Alabama, two years in a row, and they ended up running nearly 100 plays last night.”