Benjamin Watson Is Becoming an Unlikely Hero for the Surging Saints
There’s an impulse to reject sudden spikes in production, a sort of mental mechanism that doubles as a fluke detector. It was buzzing furiously in Week 6 when New Orleans Saints tight end Benjamin Watson caught 10 balls for 127 yards against the Atlanta Falcons.
He hadn’t had a double-digit reception game since Week 13 of 2010. Even more incredibly, in one night Watson accounted for 50 percent of his reception total throughout the entire 2014 season. While playing behind Jimmy Graham he finished with 20 catches that year, and just 19 in 2013.
The 34-year-old established a new single-game career receiving yards high. He did it during his 153rd NFL game while playing in his 12th season, and for his third team.
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You likely applauded, then shrugged. There’s no conceivable way that sort of production is sustainable from a player who’s fluctuated between adequate and solid throughout his career, right?
Over the previous five games leading up to Week 6, Watson had averaged 27.8 receiving yards. His career single-game yardage high seemed like a nice personal accomplishment, but expecting anything more was foolish.
Then two weeks later Watson’s career night was a memory. He replaced it with a new one: nine receptions for 147 yards during another win, this time over the New York Giants.
The Saints are suddenly surging, with three straight wins while clawing back to a .500 record, and they’re being led by an unlikely hero who’s experiencing a late-career revival.
You might even call Watson the complete package. Go ahead, you have quarterback Drew Brees’ approval.
Maybe revival isn’t the right word for what we’re seeing from Watson right now. It’s more of an uprising when past career ceilings are shattered.
He recorded 274 receiving yards in just those two booming games. That easily soars past his 2014 total of 136 yards. Then, the math becomes clear looking back on Watson’s previous two seasons when he saw limited work with Graham hogging field time.
More snaps means more opportunities to live up to his first-round pedigree from back in 2004 and do it while receiving deep bullets from Brees.
| 2015 | 86.1 | 38 | 472 |
| 2014 | 49.9 | 20 | 136 |
| 2013 | 47.2 | 19 | 226 |
But that’s the surface, and Watson’s rise despite his elderly status as a football-playing human (he’s still young for a standard human) goes beyond simply setting foot on a field more often.
During the long, winding stretch from 2005 to 2014, Watson averaged 412 receiving yards per season. He’s already eclipsed that mark at midseason now, and he’s done it while being a consistent downfield threat up the seam. Watson has 113 yards on balls that have traveled 20-plus yards through the air.
You’re reminded of a classic Sesame Street tune when looking at where that places the former Georgia standout among tight ends in that deep-ball category.
| Greg Olsen | 132 | 4 |
| Ben Watson | 113 | 5 |
| Jordan Cameron | 109 | 4 |
| Rob Gronkowski | 96 | 3 |
Watson is also averaging 1.63 yards per route run, according to Pro Football Focus, which makes him a top-10 tight end in that category too.
Overall he’s a top-five tight end, with his receiving yardage this season placing Watson fifth, one slot ahead of Graham.
He’s not Graham, though, and he never will be. Few tight ends can match Graham’s blend of downfield speed at his size (6’7”), and athleticism that’s led to 53 touchdowns receptions over 86 career games.
Still, in New Orleans the comparisons won’t be going away, especially with Watson carrying a cheaper price tag in 2015. He’s accounting for a cap hit of $1.9 million, per Spotrac, while Graham will occupy $8 million in space.
The financial chasm between them is making the lack of separation statistically a source of great joy for Saints fans.
Watson is now on pace for 944 receiving yards in 2015. That pace will surely slow, with the Saints’ tendency to spread the ball around potentially resulting in inconsistent production. In Week 8 for example, nine Saints pass-catchers finished with at least one reception, and four snagged six-plus passes.
But then again, maybe it won’t slow. Or at least not that much.
There’s been a recurring theme throughout the Saints’ three-game win streak: buckets of footballs in Watson’s direction. Over the first five games of 2015 he averaged 3.8 targets. Over the past three weeks that average has spiked sharply to nine targets.
He’s becoming a focus offensively, often at pivotal times. Of his 27 total targets over the past three games, five came during a late first-half drive in Week 6 against the Atlanta Falcons. The Saints trusted Watson in their two-minute offense to be a sure-handed possession receiver, and he responded with 60 receiving yards on just that drive to set up a field goal.
Of course, merely getting more opportunities is only part of the equation. Watson is turning many of his targets into long gains, and he’s doing it with reliably soft hands while winning battles in heavy traffic.
He’s caught 82.6 percent of his targets, which ranks first among all tight ends who have been on the field for at least 75 percent of their team’s snaps, per PFF. And the difficulty level on those grabs has been cranked pretty high.
Consider his first of nine receptions against the Giants. It ended with a 25-yard gain, and came after Watson streaked up the seam. He was deep downfield in a hurry after a quick burst off the line created separation from Giants safety Craig Dahl, providing Brees with a wide throwing window.
Then a 6’3” and 255-pound man had to shift his momentum abruptly while adjusting to a back-shoulder throw. He did that with smooth body control and positioned himself to still keep Dahl on his back as the ball descended.
That is exactly where Dahl remained when Watson continued to twist as he elevated, and then braced for contact while securing the catch before crashing down.
Quality positioning is consistent throughout Watson’s game film this season, with defenders usually on the wrong side of his wide frame. The veteran seems instinctively aware of space, and the nuanced movement needed to not only create separation, but also keep it.
Another example of that came just a few plays later. Brees scrambled out of the pocket and heaved a throw deep to Watson. Note where Giants cornerback Trevin Wade is when Watson glances skyward.
Which, once again, is where the defender stayed as another long ball settled into Watson’s hands/gut amid intense physical pressure.
Watson has benefited from playing against some defenses that have been generous to his kind. The Giants are a wickedly fun bouncy castle for tight ends while allowing 86.4 receiving yards per game to the position, according to Football Outsiders, and the Falcons are getting torched regularly, too, while giving up 66.7 yards each week.
But matchups haven't mattered much for Watson over the past decade. He’s been, at best, a fine blocking tight end who can also be relied on as a pass-catcher because of his steady hands. Or at worst, he’s been buried on a depth chart and given only scattered opportunities. Now Watson has a chance to keep ascending when his career should be fading.
The rising Saints have a real opening ahead to keep collecting wins. The combined current record of their final eight opponents is 26-40, and that even includes the Falcons and Carolina Panthers, two teams with six-plus wins. They’re the only two remaining Saints opponents with a record above .500.
They have a window to win. And suddenly, they have a lumbering, chain-moving tight end again, too.
