Top 10 linebackers in the 2019 NFL Draft

Sleeper: Tre Watson, Maryland

Maryland v Penn State

The one linebacker that I think has really gone under the radar is Maryland’s Tre Watson. The former three-star recruit from Florida started his career with Illinois. In his three years with the Fighting Illini, Watson was an Academic Big-Ten selection in each of them while putting together almost 200 tackles. However, it wasn’t until last season when he transferred to Maryland that he really put himself on the map, where he continued his academic excellence while leading the conference in tackles (114) and interceptions (5) on his way to being named first-team All-Big Ten.

Despite his productivity, he wasn’t invited to the Senior Bowl or the combine and he says that only lights the fire inside him even more. Watson is 6’2”, 238-pound seek-and-destroy linebacker. He keeps himself balanced and once he has checked his keys, he comes upfield. Watson gets physical with blockers coming at him, often times shocking much bigger offensive linemen with that initial punch and plays with good extension in the run game. He blasts offensive linemen pulling around on power plays and fullbacks leading on him. I remember him absolutely jacked up a pulling guard on a sweep-play versus Texas last season.

Watson was brought off the edge quite a bit and produced some big stops chasing the running back down from behind like a flash. When it’s time to meet the ball-carrier, he arrives with some thump by shooting his hips into tackles. Watson shows excellent speed to run with guys on wheel routes out of the backfield. He was asked to show pressure in the B-gap and still cover the back in man, has quality experience running with slot receivers, shows good awareness for mesh concepts and quickly fights over the top when tagged with one of the crossers.

I thought he showed the ability to flip his hips and trail guys running down the seams in zone coverage and gets plenty of depth when he feels dig routes coming in behind him, while sticking his hand in-between the ones of the receiver he is running with or shooting upfield when the quarterback checks the ball down. He had an outstanding pick-six versus Minnesota last season when the Golden Gophers tried an RPO and Watson jumped in front of the pass as he saw the QB pull the ball despite being on the opposite side of the receiver. In addition to his work in coverage.

Watson is a powerful blitzer who can even go through offensive linemen even. To refer back to that Texas game – he put their center on his butt when that guy was sliding over his way. However, sometimes Watson seems more concerned with hitting people than actually stopping plays. He misjudges the ball in the air occasionally and two of his picks last season came on tipped passes.

Watson was originally underrecruited due to a lack of elite athleticism and he was hampered by injuries during his three years with Illinois. Yet, he had an excellent East-West Shrine week, where he filled up lanes against the run and found crossers over the top of him in coverage. His intelligence and passion are off the charts and I think he is one of the most under-discussed players in the entire draft.

---

Next guys up:

Vosean Joseph (Florida), Te’Von Coney and Drue Tranquill (Notre Dame), Blake Cashman (Minnesota), Dre Greenlaw (Arkansas), David Long (West Virginia), Tre Lamar (Clemson), Sione Takitaki (BYU)