Menelik Watson
 Watson with the Oakland Raiders | |||||||
| No. 71 Oakland Raiders | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position: | Offensive tackle | ||||||
| Personal information | |||||||
| Date of birth: | December 22, 1988 | ||||||
| Place of birth: | Manchester, England, United Kingdom | ||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | ||||||
| Weight: | 315 lb (143 kg) | ||||||
| Career information | |||||||
| High school: | Manchester (GB) Burnage | ||||||
| College: | Florida State | ||||||
| NFL Draft: | 2013 / Round: 2 / Pick: 42 | ||||||
| Career history | |||||||
| |||||||
| Roster status: | Active | ||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||
| Career NFL statistics as of Week 17, 2014 | |||||||
| |||||||
Menelik Watson (born December 22, 1988) is an English American football offensive tackle for the Oakland Raiders of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Raiders in the second round of the 2013 NFL Draft. He played college football at Florida State.
Early and personal life
Watson was born into a single-parent family of four brothers and a sister raised on the Anson Estate in Longsight, Greater Manchester, England; his mother, originally from Jamaica, worked as an office cleaner to support the family.[1]
At Burnage High School he excelled at sport. However, he broke his right ankle in 2001 while playing football in the park, meaning that he could not progress in his hopes of playing for Manchester City. Advised by a doctor not to play any more sports, he eventually joined the school basketball team, where he was spotted in a local tournament by American coach Rob Orellana, who signed him up for his basketball academy based in the Canary Islands.[1]
Watson has a daughter Orellana—named in honour of his mentor Rob—who lives in Manchester with her mother.[1]
College career
Watson played college basketball for Marist College, which he attended from 2009 to 2010.[2]
However, after it became clear that even at 6 feet 5 inches (1.96 m) Watson was too short to play power forward,[1] Orellana transferred Watson to Saddleback College where he played American football for the first time.[1] Watson played right tackle, opposite of left tackle Kyle Long.[3] After a single year at Saddleback, he transferred to Florida State University,[4] where he started 12 of 13 games for the Florida State Seminoles football team during the 2012 season, allowing just one quarterback sack.[5]
Watson announced that he would enter the NFL draft after his junior season.[6]
Professional career
2013 NFL Draft
| Ht | Wt | Arm length | Hand size | 40-yd dash | 10-yd split | 20-yd split | 20-ss | 3-cone | Vert | Broad | BP | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 ft 5 in | 310 lb | 34 in | 10 3/8 in | 5.29 s | 5.01 s | 8.31 s | 24.5 in | 8 ft 7 in | |||||||||||
| All values from NFL combine.[7] | |||||||||||||||||||
Watson was drafted in the second round of the 2013 NFL Draft (forty-second overall) by the Oakland Raiders.[8]
Watson dressed for 5 games while starting for 3 of them in his rookie year.
On 28 September 2014, Watson was named Raiders' honorary captain for the International Series game against the Miami Dolphins, leading the Raiders out at Wembley Stadium.[9]
In December 2014, Watson donated his game check to a four-year-old Oakland Raiders fan with Hypoplastic left heart syndrome, which is estimated to be around $18,000.[10]
On August 30, 2015, Watson suffered a torn Achilles tendon during the third preseason game against the Arizona Cardinals.[11] On September 1, 2015, the Raiders placed Watson on injured reserve.[12]
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 Ian Shoesmith (25 April 2013). "Menelik Watson swaps inner-city life for the big time". BBC Sport. Retrieved 25 April 2013.
- ↑ Tally-ho, Watson
- ↑ http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/nfl/news/20130405/2013-nfl-draft-menelik-watson/
- ↑ Former hoopster, boxer Menelik Watson a hidden gem for Florida St.
- ↑ Menelik Watson Bio - Florida State University
- ↑ Menelik Watson's unlikely journey continues
- ↑ "NFL Events: Combine Player Profiles – Menelik Watson". nfl.com. Retrieved 2013-04-03.
- ↑ http://www.nfl.com/draft/2013/profiles/menelik-watson?id=2540206
- ↑ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/americanfootball/11127303/NFL-result-Oakland-Raiders-14-Miami-Dolphins-38-UK-born-Menelik-Watsons-emotional-return-spoiled-by-Miami-in-London.html
- ↑ http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/12/21/menelik-watson-donates-game-check-to-four-year-old-fan/
- ↑ Bergman, Jeremy (August 30, 2015). "Raiders' Menelik Watson ruptures Achilles tendon". NFL.com. Retrieved August 31, 2015.
- ↑ Durkin, Jimmy (September 1, 2015). "Raiders place Watson on injured reserve". Santa Cruz Sentinel. Retrieved September 3, 2015.