In his time at Penn, Justin Watson always showed up when it mattered. Looks like things haven’t changed a bit.
In the final preseason game of the season, the former Penn football wide receiver caught his second touchdown in four preseason games for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Lined up as the lone wide out on the right side, Watson used a quick first step to beat his man on a short slant and haul in the two-yard pass from quarterback Ryan Griffin. The touchdown capped a 14-play, 83-yard drive to give the Bucs a 7-3 lead with 9:27 left in the second quarter, and was the only touchdown scored by the Bucs in the game.
“He looked good,” Bucs coach Dirk Koetter said of Watson in a post-game press conference. “He did a nice job. I think, after a slight setback that forced him to miss the first preseason game, I think he’s continued to build on a real solid training camp.”
Watson finished the game with two catches for 11 yards on three targets, giving him a total of nine catches for 100 yards and two touchdowns across all four preseason games. He also had a fumble in his first game.
The additional touchdown will certainly help Watson’s chances at earning a 53-man roster spot this weekend, as teams around the NFL will trim their rosters ahead of the regular season. Watson’s spot on the team is still up for grabs, but many pundits are predicting that he will be the team’s fifth wide receiver.
If he is waived by the Bucs on Saturday, Watson could still be signed to an active roster by one of the other 31 NFL teams. Either way, the rookie will learn his fate by Saturday at 4 pm Eastern, the league-wide roster cut deadline.
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