In 1984, a junior shooting guard out of North Carolina by the name of Michael Jordan declared for the NBA Draft a year before his college eligibility ran out. Jordan was expected to be one of the top picks in the draft, and indeed he was. He was selected third by the Chicago Bulls. Of course, he went on to be the greatest basketball player of all time, winning six championships in the process.
The two teams that passed on Jordan, the Houston Rockets and Portland Trail Blazers, fared very differently with their two picks. The Rockets took Houston big man Hakeem Olajuwon No. 1 overall. That worked out pretty well for them. Olajuwon also became one of the greatest players in NBA history, and the Rockets won two championships with him on their roster. Still, Jordan was better and would have been the better pick.
The Blazers, who already had Clyde Drexler (a star shooting guard himself) decided that Sam Bowie was a better pick than Jordan -- and they lived to regret it. Bowie had an entirely forgettable NBA career marred by injuries and he was out of the league by the time Jordan returned from his baseball sabbatical to start winning championships again.
Why are we bringing this up?
Because there's a junior quarterback out of Clemson named Deshaun Watson that declared for the NFL Draft a year before his college eligibility ran out, and his coach says that if the Cleveland Browns pass on taking that QB with the No. 1 overall pick, they will regret it the same way the Rockets and Blazers regretted not taking MJ.
"He's humble, the same guy every day, and always ready," Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said of Watson, per Pro Football Talk. "He comes to every meeting prepared. That's how you change things, you change the culture, through -- for me it's through discipline and recruiting, staffing and all that stuff. For them, it's decision-making, it's who you pick. And I'm just telling you: They pass on Deshaun Watson, they're passing on Michael Jordan. I mean, I don't know what the heck I'm talking about, I'm just an old funky college coach, but Deshaun Watson is the best, by a long shot."
Following your "they'll be passing on Michael Jordan" argument with an acknowledgement that you don't know what the heck you're talking about is maybe not the best way to make a definitive statement, but it's no surprise that Swinney would cape up for his guy.
In any event, the Browns are widely expected to take Texas A&M defensive end Myles Garrett No. 1 and possibly seek a quarterback with their second first-rounder, the No. 12 selection they acquired from the Eagles in last year's Carson Wentz trade. Watson, North Carolina's Mitch Trubisky, and Notre Dame's Deshone Kizer are generally considered the top available passers and could be on the board for that selection.
