Some of the comparisons between Lamar Jackson and Deshaun Watson are obvious — drafted in the first round, without an immediate starting job handed to them.
But NFL Network analyst Steve Smith Sr. said the comparisons run deeper than that.
Via Katherine Fominykh of the Baltimore Sun, Smith said he saw a similarity in the way the two quarterbacks worked to improve.
“[Jackson], he’s willing to hone in his craft and improve on whatever deficiencies he has, kind of like Deshaun Watson did when he was at Clemson,” Smith said. “Every year they said he needed to be more pocket-present. That’s what he did. Be more accurate. That’s what he’s become.”
Jackson gets pigeonholed as a runner by those who lack imagination, but improved his completion percentage every year at Louisville, finishing with a solid 59.1 percent.
And while Watson’s ascendance to the starting job in Houston last year seemed inevitable, it might take Jackson a bit longer to supplant Joe Flacco.