Earl Watford Is the 3rd Highest Drafted Duke Ever

The Arizona Cardinals selected JMU’s Earl Watford in the fourth of round of this year’s NFL Draft. Watford was the 116th player picked. Only two other Dukes have ever been drafted higher than Watford. Curtis Keaton, who was also a fourth rounder, went to Cincinnati with the 97th pick in 1999. Four Five time Super Bowl Champion Charles Haley was the highest drafted Duke ever. He was chosen with the 96th pick by the San Francisco 49ers all the way back in 1986.

Watford’s versatility and athleticism made him an attractive target for many NFL teams. As one of JMU’s captains, he was the anchor of the offensive and allowed only one sack last season. His outstanding play led to him earning All America and All CAA honors. He got a chance to play in the East-West Shrine Game, where he showed that he could definitely handle himself against players from bigger FBS programs. Along with fellow draft pick Jonathan Cooper out of UNC, Watford will be expected to help rebuild an Arizona offensive line that struggled for much of last year.

Much like college recruiting, it’s very difficult to accurately assess the NFL Draft before anyone has suited up and taken the field. Of course that doesn’t stop people from trying. Nor does it stop us from getting excited whenever we read anything good about a former Duke months before he even puts on the pads. So it’s nice to hear someone like Mike Mayock weigh in on Watford with statements like “we said it at the East-West Game, what he brings is a solid player who is a really good interior player.” And it’s great to see that most draft analysts hand out solid grades to the Cardinals for this year’s picks.

On the flipside, it’s a little disappointing to hear folks characterize Watford as a “project” without any real explanation why. Going purely on assumption here, it’s probably because he’s coming from a FCS program. This bias continues to exist, despite the fact that plenty of players with FCS experience shine in the NFL, including guys like Victor Cruz, Joe Flacco, and Tony Romo (ed note: example excludes play in 4th quarter of close games or meaningful December football).  Even the Cardinals website acknowledges that “the concern on Watford is his James Madison pedigree.” Forgive me for getting a little defensive here, but does that strike anyone else as sort of arrogant and ignorant at the same time? First of all, it’s from the Cardinals’ website. The Arizona Cardinals’ website. For clarification, they’re the ones that play football (usually poorly), not the baseball ones that actually have pedigree. The Cardinals aren’t exactly the sort of franchise that should be questioning any other team’s pedigree. Second of all, one of the franchises’ few moments of relative glory was its run to the Super Bowl (they lost) a few years ago. And that run happened largely because of the play of another player without much college pedigree, Mr. Kurt Warner. So congrats to the Arizona Cardinals brass for having the smarts to pick Earl Watford, a great player, from a great FCS school with plenty of pedigree, regardless of what the team’s own website says.