The NFL might attain new numbers this 12 months, however not precisely in a method one would initially assume.
Desmond Watson, a 464-pound defensive deal with and hopeful Day 3 choose in April’s NFL Draft, might develop into the heaviest participant ever drafted and to play in league historical past following his spectacular efficiency in Florida’s professional day on Thursday.
Standing at 6-foot-6, Watson had gamers and coaches in awe as he benched 225 kilos for a surprising 36 instances, which simply topped any bench-press mark at this 12 months’s NFL mix.
The previous Florida lineman additionally accomplished the 40-yard sprint in 5.93 seconds and recorded 25 inches on his vertical leap.
Watson’s dimension and power — and his weight — all stood out on what was seemingly a very powerful day of his soccer profession.
Watson has constantly gained weight all through his school profession. He weighed 415 kilos as a sophomore and went as much as 435 as a junior. Final season, he was listed as 449 kilos.
He has needed to handle the burden since coming to Florida in 2021 when the then-Florida coach Dan Mullen tagged him as “a 385-pound athlete.”
“He´s working to get the burden down. I really feel like a group goes to take a shot on him. If I used to be them, I’d,” Florida defensive deal with Cam Jackson mentioned. “You don´t discover too many nostril tackles transferring like him. Dez is an enormous, disruptive man, and he places within the work.”
Presently, the heaviest NFL gamers ever drafted had been 380 kilos — offensive linemen Trent Brown (Florida in 2015) and Daniel Faalele (Minnesota in 2022). Watson would surpass them almost by 100 kilos.
“You´ll go the remainder of your profession and also you´ll by no means be round a man that´s that stature,” present Gators coach Billy Napier mentioned. “He´s had quite a few nutritionists, place coaches, power coaches, and I feel this previous 12 months we in all probability executed the most effective we’ve got. In the end, the man´s body rating would point out that he´s going to be an enormous – that quantity´s all the time going to be fairly huge. He´s 6-foot-6 and simply the density, the bone construction. It´s only a huge man.”
Watson by no means missed a sport when enjoying in Gainesville, and he tallied 63 mixed tackles, 4 tackles for loss, and 1.5 sacks throughout his 4 years.
Moreover, he carried the ball for a 1-yard acquire and in addition lined up at fullback for some performs in a blowout win over Tulane within the Gasparilla Bowl in December.
His few highlights embrace when he dragged down South Florida working again Brian Battie in 2022 and ripped the ball out of South Carolina working again Jaheim Bell’s grasp to get a compelled fumble and fumble return later in that season.
“He strikes method higher than anyone thought he would at his dimension,” fellow defensive deal with Joey Slackman mentioned. “I don´t see why a group wouldn´t give him an opportunity. He´s a soccer participant by way of and thru; I’d need that man on my group.”
