Even if they’re not showing much overt pre-draft interest, the Pittsburgh Steelers need to beef up the interior. No one brings the beef like Florida NT Desmond Watson. The heaviest prospect in known draft history, he tipped the scales at 464 pounds during his Gators’ Pro Day earlier this week.
So can the guy play? Or is his story more oddity than anything else?
First, we have to talk about his size. A legitimate 6’6 and nearly weighing a quarter-ton, there’s no prospect in history that tips the scales like Watson.
Per NFL Combine Results, a site with historical Combine data, the heaviest player to attend was Florida A&M OL Jamie Nails, who tipped the scales at 387 pounds in 1997 and went on to start 51 NFL games. In draft history, OL Michael Jasper was selected at a listed 394 pounds by the Buffalo Bills in 2011, though the team said his weight was “down” to 378 pounds on draft day. He weighed well over 400 pounds during parts of his college career.
Not invited to the Combine, Watson doesn’t have an official Indy weight, leaving his Pro Day number as the most recent and reliable figure. That puts him 77 pounds heavier than second place. He’s massive. An absolute unit. On the “Chonky Cat” scale, he’s certified “Oh Lawd He Comin.'”
That satisfies the curiosity. What about the play? His performance is mixed. A four-year rotational lineman at Florida, the stats don’t look impressive: 63 career tackles (four for a loss) and 1.5 sacks. But his job wasn’t to put up big numbers. His mission was clogging the middle and freeing up others.
Still, he had his moments. Like this tackle for loss against Tulane, rag-dolling the running back and tossing him aside. Or his forced fumble against South Carolina, ripping the ball out and nearly scoring until QB Spencer Rattler shoved him down. Once, he even carried the ball to convert a third-and-one. Heck, the guy wears No. 21 as a nearly-500 pound defensive lineman. You can’t help but smile.
Less heralded but more focused on his position, his tape shows he’s able to stack and shed blocks. Watson isn’t just the “big kid you make goalie in gym class.” There’s refinement to his position. He isn’t just a side show.
Despite nearly weighing a quarter-ton, he’s not immobile. There’s a surprising amount of fluidity in his game, at least, relative to his massive frame. That was shown during his Pro Day performance. The numbers are respectable: a 5.93 40-yard-dash, a 25-inch vertical, and he crushed the bench press with 36 reps despite having good length with 33.5-inch arms.
Predictably, Watson’s testing didn’t favor his Relative Athletic Score (RAS) but with a player of his unique build, it’s difficult to rely on conventional metrics.
While we’ve yet to write a formal scouting report – though one is coming – he’s received good marks by those who’ve studied him. Across more than 300 snaps in 2024, Watson received a 75.1 overall PFF defensive grade with an even better run defense mark of 80.1. The latter ranked in the top 50 of all 2024 qualifying college defensive linemen, a figure not far-off from Michigan’s Kenneth Grant or Texas’ Alfred Collins.
Who are the NFL comparisons? Pittsburgh doesn’t have to look back far for a nose tackle who offered a similar profile. The Steelers drafted Tennessee’s Daniel McCullers in the sixth round of the 2014 NFL Draft. “Shade Tree,” as he was known, wasn’t quite as heavy at *just* 352 pounds but similar elsewhere. Tall at nearly 6’7, his workout numbers were in-range and his vertical was actually worse than Watson’s.
Despite struggling to make an impact, he stuck on the Steelers’ roster for years and appeared in 73 games for Pittsburgh despite never logging more than 200 defensive snaps in a season. The issue wasn’t being too big. It was a lack of aggression. A teddy bear, he never had the fire under him to play to his frame.
Baltimore’s Terrance Cody was a highly-acclaimed first round pick at a Combine-weight of 354 pounds, though he played heavier throughout his career. It was an unimpressive one, a full-time starter in just one season before falling out of the league.
The most optimistic comparisons cite Green Bay Packers DT Gilbert Brown. A stockier player listed at a likely charitable 340 pounds, he made over 100 NFL starts and won a Super Bowl ring (he’d eventually lose some of that weight in his post-playing days).
Realistically, the only area Watson will surpass Brown is on the scale. A McCullers-like career is best-case scenario as a situational run stuffer. Though Florida touted the nutrition program Watson has been on, NFL teams will need him to continue shedding the pounds. Getting down to 400 pounds still makes him the biggest man on the field.
Clearly, this isn’t a first-round question. It probably won’t even be a “do we draft him?” discussion. Watson is projected to go undrafted next month. But someone could and likely will sign him after all seven rounds. In Pittsburgh, adding Watson would at least optically acknowledge the need to add something massive to the middle of the Steelers’ defense.
