Former Oakland Raiders OT Menelik Watson has agreed to a three-year deal with the Denver Broncos.
Watson, who turned 28 in December, is a native of England and was a surprising second-round draft pick by the Raiders in 2013 after playing just 20 games of organized football.
When healthy, he was an important piece of the Raiders' often-dominant offensive line, which was ranked the fourth-best in the NFL by Pro Football Focus after giving up a league-low 18 sacks. Watson, who had a base salary of $1.058 million last season, has dealt with injury his entire career, playing in five games as a rookie, 12 games in 2014 and 10 last year. He missed the entire 2015 season with a torn Achilles tendon.
He was the Raiders' starting right tackle entering the season but lost the job to Austin Howard because of a groin injury in the season opener. Watson regained the starting role at the end of the season and started at left tackle in place of the injured Donald Penn for Oakland's playoff game.
Watson's potential is enticing, no doubt, but when he had a chance to really shine, in the Raiders' playoff loss at Houston, things did not go well. In his start at left tackle against Jadeveon Clowney, Watson surrendered a sack and three other hurries, per PFF, and his PFF grade of 34.4 was not only a team low for the game, but also a season low for Watson.
His overall PFF grade of 49.4, including the postseason, was just 56th among tackles (55.4 in run-blocking and 48.8 in pass-blocking after giving up three sacks and six hurries for nine total pressures in 166 pass block attempts). His 95.5 pass-blocking efficiency rating was just 51st among tackles.
ESPN's Paul Gutierrez contributed to this report.
