Desmond Watson Doesn’t Want To Be Remembered As A Running Back
May 11th, 2025
Undrafted rookie free agent DT Desmond Watson.
Officially, former Gators defensive lineman Desmond Watson, a Tampa native, was signed as an undrafted free agent at 464 pounds.
As a result, he’s officially the heaviest player signed to an NFL contract. (Teammate Tez Johnson at 154 is the lightest player ever drafted.)
Since he signed with the Bucs, Watson has admitted he’s shed weight, though how much is unknown. He will need to drop more to make the Bucs and they have him on a weight loss and nutrition plan to help him.
The one thing Watson doesn’t want to be known for is being another William “The Refrigerator” Perry.
Back in the 1980s, Perry, 355 pounds, was then the heaviest player in NFL history. He played for the Bears in their Super Bowl era heyday and the height of their national popularity. That buzz helped propel Perry to cultural stardom.
Part of that was Perry, a defensive tackle, became a short-yardage fullback. Watson wants no part of that, he said yesterday at One Buc Palace.
“I’m a lineman,” the ever-smiling Big Gator said. “[Running], it’s not my thing.”
Watson did run the ball against Tulane in the Gasparilla Bowl in Tampa in December. The Gators had the game in hand and Watson had his lone run late in the game, converting (barely) a third-and-one.
Watson didn’t like it and wants it to be his last.
“I was against it,” Watson said, adding he felt peer pressure to capitulate and run the ball because so many of his teammates wanted him to run.
Watson also hopes he doesn’t go down in history as just the heaviest player in the NFL.
“It’s a good story but at the same time, I don’t want that to be my narrative,” Watson said. “I want to be known as a football player — a good football player. But it’s nice to be able to make history.”
Watson seems to perpetually wear a smile. Asked about always smiling, he basically said he’s living a dream.
“I’m happy,” Watson said, smiling of course. “This is a dream come true. I can’t do anything but smile.”
His life has turned Hollywood, Watson said. He never was a Bucs fan until he signed with the team, but he said his mother is a huge Bucs fan and often tried to convert him to no avail.
Joe asked Watson what team he grew up rooting for, and Watson smartly replied, “Another team.” He wouldn’t name it.
Despite not being a Bucs fan, Watson said he still always looked up to Vita Vea and tried to model his game after Vea.
Now, Vea is a teammate. Surreal, he said, “It is like a movie script.”
One of the more impressive athletic feats I’ve seen!
6-6, 437-pound rookie Desmond Watson showcasing his elite lateral footwork on the ladder. The #Bucs got a gem! 💎
(via @Buccaneers) pic.twitter.com/4Q7ZxpWjEc
— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) May 11, 2025
May 11th, 2025 at 11:10 am
If he can get below 400 lbs, watch out NFL!
He will be a force of nature at <400
He's an athletic freak for his size.
May 11th, 2025 at 11:14 am
Heaviest & lightest in the same draft…..way to go, Jason….
May 11th, 2025 at 11:20 am
Yeah I watched that interview….he’s such a great guy, VERY intellectual. Im hoping so much that he makes it with us. Everyone, including me, who was calling for a backup to Big V, here he is. And dont sweat it Des if you get called upon on a 4th and 2 yard goal, you move bodies and then Bucky right behind you scoring that TD, you will enjoy that (i hope)
May 11th, 2025 at 11:26 am
Hopefully he ends up loving the Bucs after he becomes good and doesn’t bounce to his unnamed favorite team
May 11th, 2025 at 11:28 am
I’m no Nostradamus but I predict the same dudes that are killing Shilo will fawn all over this guy.
May 11th, 2025 at 11:36 am
Why is he wearing his Jordan Black Gator shorts?? Instead of Bucs ones??? What joke that Bucs equipment staff is.
May 11th, 2025 at 11:56 am
Buddy gru, the Bucs probably do not have shorts that big man!
May 11th, 2025 at 12:00 pm
Heaviest & lightest in the same draft…..way to go, Jason….
May 11th, 2025 at 12:08 pm
TBBF. It wasn’t the same draft. One didn’t get drafted at all. But you tried to troll with the same post 45 minutes apart, and failed both times.
May 11th, 2025 at 12:13 pm
LOL Joe sees what you are doing there. 🙂
May 11th, 2025 at 12:22 pm
@Dewey caught the guy trying to slip in the same joke twice and still didn’t get no traction lol
May 11th, 2025 at 1:09 pm
Does the GM select and call every UDFA signee? Otherwise the line becomes “Heaviest & lightest in the same draft…..way to go, Buccaneers….”. Still not particularly funny.
Anyway I hope the big guy loses weight and finds some success with the Bucs. Just ’cause!
May 11th, 2025 at 2:11 pm
I’m pretty sure Vita, at times, has pushed close to 400 pounds – that quoted 350 pounds comes from when he got in tip-top shape for the combine many years ago (although Vita did appear to be in better shape last year, and might have been as close to that 350 number as he’s been since in Tampa). If this guy can get to around 390, without losing muscle, he’ll at least have a chance. I assume the Bucs are mostly wanting to see what his work ethic is and if he’ll stick to whatever training regiment they give him – if he does he’ll likely make the practice squad – and then from there, who knows.
Anywho, best of luck to him – but very long odds. If he had that work ethic and training commitment needed, I think he’d have shown it by now, but who knows, maybe he realizes this is his last shot and really puts in the effort.
May 11th, 2025 at 3:15 pm
Would be pretty funny seeing a 400 lb. RB.
May 11th, 2025 at 3:31 pm
OK… slipped up… not the draft…so shoot me
May 11th, 2025 at 3:33 pm
Anyone who watched his presser is probably rooting for him to make it….same way with Sanders & Tez
May 11th, 2025 at 3:37 pm
And that was a doable post glitch by JBF…anyone on JBF over the last 15 years know I don’t do that
May 11th, 2025 at 4:10 pm
Everything sounds right coming out of his mouth
BUT!
How did he get SO FAT !
He gained a lot of weight in college after already being overweight.
Then as a player with NFL potential he is SO late addressing his weight PROBLEM
I am pulling for him but can’t imagine he can play the game at the NFL level with his current overall condition.
He’s in the Joe Dirt category of preseason/ training camp story
May 11th, 2025 at 4:27 pm
He can get the weight down. He was at 400 – 415 when he started at UF and had some game wrecking moments.
May 11th, 2025 at 4:35 pm
When we get to the post season this year I bet this guy will have conditioned enough to be a weapon. He’s already dropped close to 30lbs. If he really sticks to the plan we could see him under 400 come mid season or sooner.
May 11th, 2025 at 5:03 pm
J Says:
May 11th, 2025 at 4:35 pm
When we get to the post season this year I bet this guy will have conditioned enough to be a weapon. He’s already dropped close to 30lbs. If he really sticks to the plan we could see him under 400 come mid season or sooner.
——–
Being that huge, he could be 390 by the end of training camp if he’s going all in right now. At over 400lbs, it’s really not a big deal to lose 3lb a week, and that would be over 50lbs by Sept 1st. Also, at his size, and in an NFL training camp in Tampa during July, I think he could easily lose 10lbs a week I’d think. I don’t know what goal the Bucs have given him, but I’m sure they want to see if he can stay or track or if he’ll ballon up again.
Anywho, again, not rooting against the kid – and like I said above, maybe he realizes this is it, and turns things around. He’s very much a long shot to actually make it – but the Bucs are betting on him (to a limited degree) based on the fact he does have some talent and exceptional size if he can “slim” down and maintain his muscle. Also, saying slim down to 390 is just a funny thing to say.
May 11th, 2025 at 5:48 pm
Less carbs, more protein
May 11th, 2025 at 6:00 pm
Man, how can you NOT root for this dude! Love the man. Cheering for him to earn a roster spot. Then we can dream about him hurling little Tezzy over the LOS into opposing QBs and getting the sacks.
May 11th, 2025 at 6:14 pm
BTW since people keep talking about running back…Vita Vea was a STAR RB in HS! Simply go to youtube and put in Vita Vea as high school running back and enjoy the video.
May 11th, 2025 at 6:18 pm
The other strategy is to beef him up to heaviest man in the world level. At 1100 pounds, they could roll him out there and he would occupy massive space across several inside gaps, forcing everything to go wide.
I’ve often thought, why doesn’t someone do that in ice hockey. Just find a dude so big that he occupies every square inch of the goal.
May 11th, 2025 at 6:50 pm
If he can get down to the 385 range….
May 11th, 2025 at 6:52 pm
If he can convert some of that into muscle… imagine how he would do then… I think going updrafted was a good thing for him… he now has a reason to get into the best shape of his life… last shot big fella.
May 11th, 2025 at 7:33 pm
LET’S MAKE HIM A 400 LB. LB CB OR S.👍😃
May 11th, 2025 at 7:39 pm
Aqualung, the Ginormous Goalie probably couldn’t stand on his ice skates for long. And if he did the opponent could probably find room to shoot between or around his legs. So on the opening face-off he could just sit right on his butt in the middle of the goal and probably fill up the net. Then after the game 3 or 4 teammates could help him up on his feet and they could all go have some beers and celebrate yet another shutout. Good idea Aqualung.
May 11th, 2025 at 8:14 pm
TheBigSombreo Says:
May 11th, 2025 at 6:52 pm
If he can convert some of that into muscle…
————
I’m pretty sure he’s quite strong already, there’s no way the Bucs are giving a signing bonus and a UDFA spot to some fatso who isn’t strong. No, he’s got stretch, the issue is losing the blubber without losing the muscle. But if he’s in training camp, in July in Tampa, there’s no way he’s not going to be shedding a huge amount of weight unless he’s eating like 20,000 calories a day.
May 11th, 2025 at 8:38 pm
Rod Munch, I’m pretty sure you’re right about him being strong. 225 pounds, 36 reps. Strongest player at the combine. After a solid training camp in this humidity, and seeing we’ve already assigned him a team trainer, he oughta be in reasonable game shape around opening game. BIG and STRONG. Yep.
May 11th, 2025 at 10:21 pm
Kenton – precisely . Just slide him out there on his arse and provided that he didn’t create a catastrophic ice melt, yeah, just stuff him in the goal sitting down.
Stanley Cup, baby!