NFL fans had a lot to say after Cleveland Browns’ quarterback Deshaun Watson made a questionable statement about the 2017 NFL quarterbacks draft class.
The Browns will visit Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs on Saturday to wrap up 2023 preseason play. The two clubs, who last met in a meaningful regular season game in Week 1 of the 2021 season, would only meet in 2023 if they square off in the postseason.
Per Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com, Watson praised Kansas City’s quarterback and talked about his excitement “to prove” that the 2017 NFL Draft class is one of the best ever. Mahomes went 10th overall to the Chiefs that year, and Watson went to the Houston Texans two spots later:
“Yeah, I mean just the playmaking skills, the leadership, the work ethic. You’ve seen it all. He wins two Super Bowls for a reason, could have won three or four of them and it’s just special. And with the staff that they have over there and the guy that he’s been with, Andy Reid coaching Patrick Mahomes, that’s a pretty good combination to have…
“So he’s definitely the standard for the NFL and you’ve just got to continue to just keep building that up, especially being in the 2017 draft class together. I think he was the 10th pick, I was the 12th. So both of us have a lot to prove and we want to continue to just show that we’re one of the — us two — top classes that have been drafted. So that’s the plan.”
Needless to say, NFL fans couldn’t help but question Watson’s claim about the 2017 QB class…
Click on ‘Follow Us’ and get notified of the most viral NFL stories via Google! Follow Us
The Chicago Bears made a franchise-altering mistake by trading up to take North Carolina quarterback Mitch Trubisky with the No. 2 pick that year. Trubisky went 29-21-0 as the Bears’ starter but had just 64 touchdowns against 37 interceptions, failing to lead Chicago to a single postseason win.
Once you get past Mahomes and Watson, the 2017 quarterback class simply leaves a lot to be desired. It’s simply nothing like the legendary 1983 (John Elway, Dan Marino and Jim Kelly) or 2004 classes (Eli Manning, Ben Roethlisberger and Philip Rivers), with only Mahomes and Watson becoming full-time starting QBs in their class.
