Buccaneers Cut Giant Desmond Watson
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have made the decision to release defensive tackle Desmond Watson, who weighed 450 pounds. The news was announced before Tuesday’s roster cut deadline. Watson, coming from the Florida Gators, did not participate in any training or preseason games with the team, limiting himself to observing from the bench. He was originally hired as an undrafted free agent. During training camp, Watson was on the injured list due to an illness unrelated to football. He worked on conditioning exercises to reduce his weight to what the team considered an acceptable level. Despite this, Watson did participate in the rookie minicamp in May and the three-day mandatory minicamp in June. Had Watson played in a regular season game with the Buccaneers, he would have been the heaviest player in NFL history. There is a possibility that the Bucs will re-sign Watson to their 16-player practice squad, as long as another team doesn’t claim his contract.Last week, coach Todd Bowles had expressed his interest in keeping Watson on the team. “I would like to have long-term plans for him because he is progressing and I think that in the long term he can help us, but we will have those conversations at the end of the week,” Bowles commented the previous Tuesday.
