Chasing Greatness: Deshaun Watson wants more NFL titles than Brady

There’s no doubt that Deshaun Watson has had high expectations his entire life.

The NFL quarterback from Gainesville, Georgia broke state passing records while he was in high school before he attended Clemson. He was the most highly-anticipated quarterback recruit to make his way to the foothills of South Carolina.

You know his career at Clemson. As a starter, Watson went 32-3 and led Clemson to two national championship games and its first national title since 1981. He threw for over 10,000 passing yards and 90 touchdowns in three years as Clemson’s starter, his last throw being to Hunter Renfrow to win the national championship in Tampa.

Dabo Swinney said in January 2017 the Cleveland Browns would regret not taking Watson with the number one draft pick they possessed.

“They would be passing on Michael Jordan,” Swinney said.

The closest thing the NFL has to Michael Jordan has been Tom Brady. The New England Patriots quarterback has won five Super Bowls and was playing for his sixth last night in his eighth appearance. Jordan won six NBA titles with the Bulls in six appearances.

In a 41-33 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, Brady threw for a playoff-record 505 yards as a 40-year-old and was nothing short of brilliant. And with two minutes left and his team down by five, Brady got the ball back in his hands with a chance to lead another final drive to win a championship.

It was a similar scene to when Watson got the ball in his hands against the mighty Crimson Tide down three with two minutes to go.

In both instances, the entire football world collectively said the same thing: “There’s too much time.”

Watson marched his team down in dramatic fashion to win the title, much like what Brady did against the Falcons in Super Bowl LI. It was a “Jordan moment” for both players.

But this year, Brady wasn’t able to get his sixth ring and fumbled two plays into the drive for the game’s first sack.

Meanwhile, looking on from his television in Houston, Texas was Watson. He even made it a point to tweet out during the game that he was seeing everything Brady saw.

The rookie quarterback was on track for a sensational season until a second torn ACL ended his season after only seven games. He threw 19 touchdowns and was in consideration for Rookie of the Year even though he only played seven games.

Watson spent some time making his rounds in Minneapolis this week speaking with the media at the Super Bowl. He drives himself to be the greatest, wanting to beat Brady when it comes to NFL titles by the time he is Brady’s age. According to cbssports.com, Watson told “Good Morning Football” that he has no problem chasing NFL’s Jordan.

"If Tom wins, it's going to be six, right?" Watson asked before the Super Bowl. "I want to be at seven. Whatever it takes to be the best, the greatest, and not just for me, but for any athlete, especially quarterback."

“If you don't want to chase Tom Brady and (be) above him, you're selling yourself short. I always put my mentality with (being) the best, and Tom Brady is the best right now, so whatever I have to do to get to that level at age 40, that's what I'm going to do."

Of course, Brady wasn’t able to get his sixth title and match Jordan’s number so the number to beat is still five. It’s a number Watson will most likely chase his entire career.

With a ton of time left in his career, Watson has all the potential in the world to bring his goals to fruition. He’ll be the Texans’ franchise-quarterback going forward and if the Patriots disband, the AFC could be up for grabs for anyone.

With 19 touchdowns in only seven games, Watson threw as many or more touchdowns than Marcus Mariota, Jameis Winston, Matt Ryan, and two Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks in Joe Flacco and Eli Manning.

Watson is currently going through rehab and is on track to start the 2018 season in hopes of being back stronger than ever. He’s done this before. All of his biggest accomplishments at Clemson came after he tore his ACL the first time.

The rehab process took its next step on Monday afternoon. Watson began running for the first time on the first day of the NFL’s offseason.

The chase is on.