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Florida’s Desmond Watson put up 36 reps on the bench at 464 pounds
If you can believe it, there’s a 464-pound defensive tackle in the 2025 draft class. Florida’s defensive tackle Desmond Watson, who wasn’t invited to the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis this year, has been a four-year contributor for the Gators and hasn’t missed a game in his college career. On Thursday, he weighed in at 6’6” and 464 pounds during Florida’s pro day.
As you can imagine, he’s more of a space eater than a penetrator. The nose tackle posted just 1.5 sacks and 4 tackles for losses in his college career, but he posted run-defending grades of over 80 in both 2024 and 2022, according to Pro Football Focus. Just don’t go expecting him to make a difference versus the pass.
Beyond just being big, Watson is also strong. At the pro day, he recorded 36 reps on the bench press, which is more than all but two defensive linemen since the 2019 class, per Mockdraftable: Tommy Togiai and Jaylen Twyman. Had Watson done that at the combine, he would have ranked first among any player — including offensive and defensive linemen.
Watson also reportedly ran a 5.86-second 40-yard dash and posted a 25” vertical. In short, he’s big and strong but can’t move well for the position. This shouldn’t be a surprise considering his size, which will probably need to drop before he ever sees the field in an NFL regular season game.
The Gators found interesting ways to use him at the college level, though. On defense, he was a clear run stopper and taken off the field on obvious passing downs. He was used in the backfield three times against Tulane in their bowl game, Watson’s final game of his career. There, he was a fullback twice and was even given a short-yardage carry out of the shotgun. He also contributed on the kick block team for Florida as a freshman.
To say the least, he’s a unique player. He’s currently unranked on the consensus draft board, but I’m sure someone will kick the tires on a player with his rare size. At minimum, he’s an interesting project if a team can get him to drop a couple of pounds.
