New York Giants: Five Reasons To Draft Deshaun Watson

3. Deshaun Watson Is More Athletic Than Eli Manning

When’s the last time you watched Eli Manning run past the line of scrimmage and you didn’t visibly cringe and close your eyes? I can’t remember when Manning running didn’t make me nervous.

Deshaun Watson running past the line of scrimmage—now that’s a different story. According to Sports-Reference.com, Watson ran for 1734 yards and had 21 rushing touchdowns over the past two seasons.

To put that into perspective, in the same time frame, Leonard Fournette’s rushing numbers are 2796 rushing yards and 30 rushing touchdowns. Fournette was injured for five games during that time, but the fact that these two players’ rushing numbers can even be looked at in the same breath is remarkable.

Watson’s athletic ability gives him the opportunity to still gain yardage when there are no viable options to throw to. Not only would this improve the Giants’ anemic run game, but it would keep defenses constantly guessing as to what the offense will do.

This pure athleticism also aids in keeping Watson alive in the pocket. With the current state of our offensive line, Watson would most likely be pressured on a majority of his drop-backs.

Fortunately, avoiding this type of pressure has always been a strength of Watson’s. NFL.com’s draft profile on Watson discusses this very point:

"“Sacked just 32 times over his last 1,181 drop-backs. Willing to stand in and deliver the ball against rib-wreckers on a clear path for him.”"

Those are some impressive numbers. It’s a good thing he doesn’t mind having to “stand in and deliver” because that’s pretty much the only option for Giants quarterbacks at this point.