Armon

Watts

Watts started his career in Minnesota, playing three years for the Vikings, before one-year stints with the Bears and Steelers. He has managed 22 starts across 75 appearances in five seasons in the league and should begin his time in New England as a rotational player in sub-packages.

The signing was announced by his agents at GSE Football. The 26-year-old, four-year veteran made 21 starts over the previous two seasons for the Vikings and Bears but has received below average defensive marks against the run in each professional season. Watts would be best served playing situational snaps as a pass rusher for the Steelers, an area of the game he has excelled at in the past.

Watts appeared in all 17 games last season, making nine starts and playing 56% of the defensive snaps. But with the new regime in town, the Vikings are cleaning house of all the misfits for the new schemes. Watts should definitely land on his feet elsewhere.

The No. 190 overall pick of the draft, Watts was a healthy scratch for the first nine games of the season but appeared in six of the final seven, notching 1.5 sacks on 121 snaps. Provided he is healthy, Watts should have a leg up on a 2020 53-man roster spot.

His deal comes with a $169,096 million signing bonus. Nine of the Vikings’ 12 draft picks are now under contract with only first-round C Garrett Bradbury, seventh-round CB Kris Boyd and seventh-round LS Austin Cutting still unsigned.

Watts (6’5/300) was a meaningful contributor for only one year on the Razorbacks’ defensive line but capitalized with seven sacks and three forced fumbles across 11 starts. A hamstring injury limited Watts’ pre-draft workouts, but he did hustle out a 5.23 forty, and Watts’ college gape shows an upward-trending interior presence with serious power-rushing ability and uncommon quickness for a 300-pound man. Despite his limited resume, Watts offers starting-caliber traits as an inside presence.

Watts (6’5/300) was a meaningful contributor for only one year on the Razorbacks’ defensive line but capitalized with seven sacks and three forced fumbles across 11 starts. A hamstring injury limited Watts’ pre-draft workouts, but he did hustle out a 5.23 forty, and Watts’ college gape shows an upward-trending interior presence with serious power-rushing ability and uncommon quickness for a 300-pound man. Despite his limited resume, Watts offers starting-caliber traits as an inside presence.

“He had some reps that really stood out in practice because of how strong guy was,” an AFC personnel director told Zierlein after watching him in the shrine game. “He sets a strong anchor for being a taller tackle.” Watts played for an awful Arkansas team in 2018, but very little of their disappointment had to do with his play, if any. “He is an efficient, downhill rusher with the power and hand usage to pry open opportunities for pressures and sacks,” writes Zierlein. “His recognition and response in the run game is behind, but his ability to anchor against double teams and defeat single blocks is NFL-caliber.” Expect Watts to come off the board between the third and fourth round.

Watts (6'5/300) posted the second-worst 40-yard dash among interior defensive lineman early in the day and didn’t do the bench press. He was a popular mid-round sleeper pick prior to the combine but may not be as exciting after the underwhelming 40-yard dash. His draft stock currently sits anywhere from a late Day 2 selection to Day 3.

Watts is one of two defensive tackles to receive that designation from Ledyard, with UCF’s Trysten Hill being the other. In the case of Watts, three nondescript seasons were followed by a 2018 campaign in which he accounted for 49 total tackles (8.5 for loss) and seven sacks. “The Razorbacks senior showed a shockingly consistent pass rush plan with deadly hand usage, something that typically takes collegiate interior defensive linemen years to develop, if they ever do it at all,” Ledyard wrote in his analysis of Watts, who he projects to be a slightly better draft prospect than Hill.