DeShaun Watson showed similar flaws to Mitchell Trubisky

Mitchell Trubisky is taking a lot of flack for one still photo. You could take similar still shots from DeShaun Watsons 2018 debut and see similar issues in his play

Earlier this week, I wrote about how Mitchell Trubisky would need to be more instinctive to turn a couple of plays into bigger gains. Then, a beat reporter for The Athletic tweeted a still from a play that I mentioned as well. Then, the world went nuts.

Yes, this is an area where Mitchell Trubisky can grow from. However, that is a play that only seasoned NFL veterans make. The fact that the Chicago Bears played on Sunday Night Football is overblowing this situation, and this is coming from a person who brought up the play.

The fact of the matter is that in the early slate of games that Sunday, a player in the same draft class as Mitchell Trubisky had similar issues in terms of reacting to the situation. In my opinion, these three plays by Watson were even more damning than Trubisky.

The first play is linked here. You can see that similar to Trubisky missing Burton, this was not the first read for Watson. However, watch the safety, 32 towards the top. As he steps up to the tight end, you can Bruce Ellington squirting free over the middle of the field for an open touchdown.

If Watson were processing quickly he would have saw that safety and instinctually made the pass, similar to Trubisky having to instinctually hit Burton in stride. However, he feels pressure rather than standing in and making the read, and reacts to that, throwing an incompletion.

The next play is linked here. Again, the pressure of Watson gets to his head. He is playing a cat and mouse game with the defensive lineman pushing 73, Zach Fulton rather than maneuvering the pocket. While doing this he steps backwards, takes his eyes down and starts to run into pressure that he was not even thinking about. Again, there is a receiver shifting open towards the top with a lot of space in the pocket to his left.

On this play you can blatantly see that he is looking that way. However, he is thinking about the pressure and not reading the play.

This last play is the most frustrating. He has a clean pocket and pretty much anybody he wants to throw to is open. His first read was likely DeAndre Hopkins, who drew attention underneath. However, from

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there he took his eyes down and started to step up in the pocket as if to run. Again, he walked himself into pressure and a bad play. This is worse than the play I highlighted by Trubisky, where he churned out rushing yards rather than standing in and going through his reads.

No, DeShaun Watson is not a bust. We have seen him be dynamic. We saw Mitchell Trubisky look pretty dynamic in the first half as well. So, when you see the still photo, or you see an article I write highlighting areas where he must grow, remember this is not a slam piece calling him a bust. It is highlighting where he must grow.

DeShaun Watson has similar flaws to work out and started his 2018 season off on the same foot as Trubisky. It is not time to panic on either or say that one of the other should have been drafted. It is time to see how both learn from these rocky starts.

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