An in depth and complete scouting report and draft prospect profile of Mississippi State Linebacker Nathaniel Watson for the NFL Draft.

Prospect: Nathaniel Watson

School: Mississippi State

Age: 23

Nathaniel Watson Measurables:

• Height: 6’2” (NFL Combine)
• Weight: 233 (NFL Combine)

• 40: 4.63 (NFL Combine)- T-7/15
• 10 Yard Split: 1.59 (NFL Combine)- T-2/15
• Vertical Jump: 31” (NFL Combine)- 11/17
• Broad Jump:
  • 9’3” (NFL Combine)- T-11/17
  • 9’1” (Pro Day)
• 20 Yard Shuttle: 4.44 (Pro Day)
• 3 Cone: 7.34 (Pro Day)
• Bench: 16 (Pro Day)
• Side Notes:
  • 12 lbs lighter at Combine than ESPN had him listed
  • Continued to look stiff while running his 40
  • Didn’t do drills

Tape Watched: LSU, Full game highlights of Alabama and Ole Miss games, Ole Miss(Full Game)

Prospect Grade: 53%

Projected Draft Day: Rounds 5-6

Player Comparison: Ceiling: Ernest Jones; Floor: Baylon Spector

Best Team Fits: Baltimore Ravens, Seattle Seahawks, Buffalo Bills, Minnesota Vikings, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Los Angeles Chargers

Nathaniel Watson Player Summary:

The  Positives

• Fills up the stat sheet
  • 137 Total Tackles (35 solo, 102 assist), 10 Sacks, 2 FF, 2 FR, 1 INT
• Block shedding is pretty good
• Flashes the ability to be extremely disruptive
• For the most part has really good ability to read the play and understand flow
  • Constantly around the ball, which explains all the assisted tackles
• Really good box player and run defender

The Negatives

• Arrested twice
  • DUI suspicion in May 2023
  • Drag Racing in 2018
• Coverage drops could use coaching
  • Spot drops, covers grass rather than routes at times
  • On some of his drops he’ll turn his whole body, back to the QB and run
• Zero pass rush moves, not quite sure how he ended with 10 sacks
• Slipped off a decent amount of tackles
• Thin lower half
• After finally getting a 40 time and agility times, it is now conclusive that Watson is slow. Yes he also has a little bit of tightness, but his film looking like an illusion is actually just that he’s slow.
• We have concerns about his athleticism, strength, and style of play translating

Side Notes

• The Ole Miss tape, in the small sample size that was there was probably the best
• Big J.O.P player(could explain all the assists)

Nathaniel Watson by far has the most head scratching film we’ve ever seen. His film literally feels like an illusion. We don’t believe that his effort is necessarily in question, but it’s extremely hard to tell if he’s truly running full speed or coasting at times. We suspect it could be because he looks like a very stiff runner and mover, but not 100% sure. The list of weaknesses did add up as we went through the film, but we believe that a lot of it could be improved simply by working on his functional flexibility. Watson does seem to have a really good ability to read the play and understand flow for the most part which explains his filled stat sheet. He also flashes the ability to be extremely disruptive. It could just be a matter of patience with Watson before he’s ready to be a playmaker for your defense. 

Updated 4/10/24: Nathaniel Watson is still a really interesting prospect. We saw somewhere that someone called him an old school type of linebacker, who’s physicality and box play shines. That was exactly the case when we gave Watson a second look. We have to be honest we don’t really know what happened in our original scout. Our guess is that we saw Watson’s small-ish frame and figured he’d be a modern style LB. Knowing now that he fits more under the category of “old school” backer, the fact that he came into the Combine 12 lbs lighter gives us mixed emotions. On one hand, his rep from the Pro Day we saw was probably improved due to the weight loss, but on the other hand it’s probably going to affect how he plays in the box(similar to a note we made about Ohio State’s Tommy Eichenberg). 

As we stated above though, we have concerns about his ability actually translating at the next level. Assuming he keeps his weight down he has development to do in the mold of a modern linebacker. Assuming he puts his weight back on or even keeps his weight down(for the sake of the argument) his strength level is questionable. At times he looks like he can hang with linemen, but other times he looks overpowered(but not getting driven off the ball). It’s hard to see how and in what role he’ll fit in at the next level.  

Updated 3/7/24:

• Combine numbers and rank added to measurable portion of profile
• Grade dropped from “58%” to “55% with upside”
• Projection changed from “Day 3, Day 2 on upside” to “Rounds 5-6”

Updated 4/10/24:

• Pro Day numbers added to measurable portion of profile
• Grade switched from “55% with upside” to “53%”
• Comp switched from “Shades of Anthony Walker” to “Ceiling: Ernest Jones; Floor: Baylon Spector”
• “Baltimore Ravens, Seattle Seahawks, Buffalo Bills, Minnesota Vikings, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Los Angeles Chargers” added as Best Team Fits
• Positive Added
  • Really good box player and run defender
• Negatives Added
  • Thin lower half
  • After finally getting a 40 time and agility times, it is now conclusive that Watson is slow. Yes he also has a little bit of tightness, but his film looking like an illusion is actually just that he’s slow.
  • We have concerns about his athleticism, strength, and style of play translating
• Side Note Added
  • Big J.O.P player(could explain all the assists)
• Negatives Removed
  • Speed possibly in question
    • It’s hard to tell if he’s truly running full speed or just coasting
    • Looks like a very stiff runner/mover
  • Possibly tight hips
  • Change of direction slow and unnatural looking
    • We took this out because we saw a rep of Watson from Pro Day and his change of direction looks a little better, not great, but definitely improved 
• Side Notes Removed
  • Watching Watson’s film is like an illusion
    • Being removed because again he’s just slow
  • Has a lot to prove at the combine