Watson recalls teams passing on him in draft: 'They had their opportunities'

Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson, who emerged as an MVP candidate in his rookie year before suffering a torn ACL, is still surprised he fell to No. 12 in the 2017 draft after his highly decorated career at Clemson.

"I knew I could do it," Watson told Greg Bishop of Sports Illustrated. "The Texans knew I could do it - that's why they drafted me. And teams that didn't know, they're aware now. They had their opportunities."

Watson completed 61.8 percent of his passes for 1,699 yards and 19 touchdowns against eight interceptions in seven games, leading many to believe he could develop into a perennial MVP threat.

Texans executive vice president of football operations and then-GM Rick Smith made it clear in the Sports Illustrated story that selecting Watson was an easy decision given his prolific college career, which culminated in a national title in 2016.

"If I was going to miss on a guy," Smith said of Watson, "I would miss on this guy."

Chicago selected Mitchell Trubisky second overall and Kansas City chose Patrick Mahomes with the 10th pick. While neither team should harbor serious regrets just yet, Watson seems determined to make the teams who made him wait in the green room longer than expected pay dearly.