"I remember it like it was yesterday. It was one of the moments that I will remember for a long time that I've been dreaming about."* -Deshaun Watson on his 2017 NFL Draft experience.
*
Sitting at the table in the Green Room, Deshaun Watson waited patiently for his name to be announced at the 2017 NFL Draft.
"I was cool, both outside and inside; I was prepared for any situation," Watson said to Texans TV. "I didn't have a team that I really wanted to go to. I was open for anybody, whoever wanted me, I was going to go to that organization and be the person that I am. And so for me to get caught up in the hype and having guys go before me, I didn't want to get caught up in it. I knew wherever I land, it was the right place for me and once I get there I was going to start my own legacy and perfect my craft and do what I do."
The Clemson quarterback was as calm that day as he was tossing the winning touchdown in the national championship game just months earlier. After months of preparation for the Combine, the team visits, the draft, Watson opted to travel to Philadelphia with his mother instead of watching from home with family and friends. He did take a piece of his hometown, an "815" embroidered on the inside of his jacket, as a reminder of the government housing projects he once lived in that were located at 815 Harrison Square in Gainesville.
"The clock is running down, I'm sitting in the Green Room and I'm just waiting," Watson said. "I kind of knew I was going to go 12 or 13 and then I'd seen the Houston trade and once I'd seen that, I looked up at my agent and he was like, 'This could be it.' Right when I turned around, my phone was ringing and I didn't have a Houston number but it said Houston and I said, 'Aw this is it.' From there it was just kind of chaos: media, talking to people, phone calls, text messages, spending time with the family, trying to get everything up for the next morning to head here. It was fun but it was crazy at the same time."
The Texans selected Watson with the 12th overall pick last year, after trading their first-round pick (25th overall) and first-round pick in 2018 to Cleveland.
Watson's full interview debuts on Texans All Access: 2018 Draft, airing Sunday at 11 p.m. on ABC-13 in Houston and surrounding areas.
The Houston Texans pick QB Deshaun Watson in the first round of the 2017 NFL Draft.
