Deshaun Watson Tears ACL in Practice

     Texans Rookie Sensation and quarterback Deshaun Watson tore his ACL in practice today during a non-contact play. It's been just four days removed from the biggest game of his career where he earned the complete respect of the NFL in a 42-39 loss to the Seahawks in Seattle. Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman said that it was "the best performance ever" by a quarterback against the Legion of Boom, which is saying a lot about how impressed the Seahawks were with the rookie.

     This isn't the first time he has torn his ACL. As a promising freshman at Clemson University in 2014, Watson tore his ACL in a mid November practice shortly after spraining his knee. He went on afterwards to become a top-tier quarterback in college, whom I largely spoke out against as an overrated prospect, and was the runner up twice in the Heisman race.

     I wasn't sure whether or not I wanted to jump on the Watson Bandwagon, because I don't care for players who speak out about themselves in the way that Watson does. His "Let my stats speak for themselves" comments showed me he was more concerned about his statistics then winning a game no matter what cost, and his overall demeanor toward his teammates and his coaching staff pulled at me the very wrong way. Oh, and if stats are speaking for themselves, Watson led the college football nation in interceptions in 2016. Just saying. 

     We have seen a similar story in recent NFL history, and as they say "History has a way of repeating itself." There was a top five pick in 2012 who came out of college with huge playmaking ability, like Watson. He tore his ACL three games into his sophomore season at Baylor before winning the Heisman trophy in 2011 over Andrew Luck. His name is Robert Griffin III.

     Like Watson, he completed a lot of passes and played in a college style offense. Like Watson, he was the new budding star that the NFL was falling in love with, and like Watson he tore his ACL.

     Granted, Griffin tore his ACL after a full season and in the playoff loss to the Seahawks, and then rushed his recovery process which, honestly, probably didn't do much to help him. However, the comparisons are eerily similar, and one can't help but to look at them and wonder what will happen to our young Watson. What happened to Griffin? He came back to a coaching staff that preferred Kirk Cousins over him but was being forced to play him by the teams owner, got hurt the next couple of seasons, sat all of 2015 before signing with the Browns who cut him after two more big injuries that year.

     I will recognize that there is no way that Watson returns to the same situation that Griffin did. Texans coach Bill O'Brien loves Watson, and has even started allowing his input to be blended into the offensive gameplan every week. There's no doubt that when he returns, he will be given a hero's welcome.

     There are still questions that we are asking through the shock. How did Watson tear his ACL? Well, all we know is that he took off running during practice and appeared to either trip or fall over. He didn't yell, and he got up on his own and before anyone looked at it so no one believed it was anything very serious.

     Wear and tear gets to these ligaments. Improper stretching gets to these ligaments. We can never know if its this season's brutality has just gotten to him. He's had a bad offensive line protecting him so it wouldn't be a big surprise if that's a big part of the issue.

     Now, the Texans will have to turn to Tom Savage, the quarterback who started week one before being pulled in the 3rd quarter and being replaced by the rookie. Matt McGloin has also been signed today to back up Savage. The Texans loose a lot with Watson going down with an injury and they have a lot to replace as they look to move on this season without their budding star.