I want to like him more than I do. He's a winner, clutch in big games, has all the physical talent to play in the NFL, and his makeup seems like it's off the charts.

He doesn't do anything poorly, but he doesn't have a skill that's exceptional, either.

He routinely chooses the right option against defenses, yet Clemson's offense is filled with half-field rollout reads that won’t translate against pro defenses. He can be deadly accurate to all parts of the field and throws with great anticipation, but I'd say half his completions are not NFL-quality. A completed college pass does not equate to a good one in the NFL, especially when your top three receivers are contorting their bodies every Saturday to pull in simple throws. Leading a receiver is a 50/50 bet with him, even when they're wide-open.

His high number of interceptions were not a fluke, either. I watched at least eight games where defenses zone-blitzed him out of a six-man front, and dropped the backside defensive end into shallow robber coverage to disrupt the quick slant. Yet he kept throwing the slant, right into the defensive trap, for two seasons! Staring down high-low routes is another problem, as several interceptions came from underneath defenders peeling off their man and cutting under his throws. Both those coverages are NFL defense 101.

I guess the lesson to learn from Dak Prescott is that just because a quarterback has been in a simpler offense, doesn't mean he cannot run a more elaborate one. And Watson has enough tools to succeed: arm strength is plus, pocket presence good enough (he can handle A-gap blitzes without scrambling) and you figure he's got that whole leadership/hardest worker thing down.

But watching him in college I kept thinking his NFL ceiling is a solid-to-good, not good-to-great.