The Buccaneers signed defensive tackle Desmond Watson as an undrafted free agent.
The Buccaneers signed defensive tackle Desmond Watson as an undrafted free agent.Chris O'Meara/Associated Press
Desmond Watson, all 400-and-something pounds of him, recently became the talk of Tampa Bay Buccaneers rookie minicamp.
When you’re that big, roughly 100 pounds heavier than anyone ever to play in the NFL, it gets eyeballs. People talk. No matter where his career goes from here, be it to Canton or to Palookaville or a stop in-between, he’ll be the guy who set the “Big Man” record the day he rolled into camp.
“It’s good for clicks to be the biggest player ever,” an amicable, sensible Watson said in one of his first media interactions at camp, “but to be successful, I have to lose more weight.”
That was what the 6-foot-6-inch, 437-pound Watson had to say about his 464-pound former self. He has trimmed 27 pounds from his beefier days at the University of Florida and made clear that he knows he has work to do, on the field, and particularly with those morning weigh-ins.
Can we all agree, despite what heavy hints of history provide on the subject, that this ends up in a good place for Watson? He’s a local kid, grew up some 20 miles from Raymond James Stadium and said it’s long been his dream to make it to the NFL. Safe travels, homeboy, for sure.
Yet the health risk here, the strain on heart, metabolism, knee joints, and psyche for someone so heavy is obvious and, at the very least, challenging. A typical sumo wrestler tips ‘em at about 365 pounds. No one Watson’s size ever seriously could have considered playing in the NFL. More doubtful any NFL team ever gave anyone of his girth a second thought of being employed beyond, say, a spot on field maintenance or game-day concessions.
No one in this year’s NFL Draft felt Watson merited a pick, including the Patriots, who went last at No. 257 and selected Kobee Minor, a defensive back out of Memphis. Minor weighs 188 pounds, well under half-a-Watson.
The Buccaneers signed Watson as one of their 15 undrafted free agents, after seeing enough of him during four seasons at Gainesville to figure he’s worth auditioning as a defensive tackle/run stopper.
“We didn’t get him for the Tush Push,” said Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles.
More promising, Bowles added that the Buccaneers feel no need — or perhaps see no viable path? — to get Watson immediately on the roster. They see him for what he is: a project, one who, by the way, topped everyone at the NFL Combine by bench pressing 225 pounds 36 times. He also ran a 5.93 in the 40-yard dash. He’s not just the fat kid in the school marching band who thought, “Gee, wouldn’t it be cool to pull on a helmet?!”
“We really thought he could play,” Bowles said, “we just have to see how long he can stay on the field.”
Extra weight can be such a cruel demon, sometimes literally tearing up players and their careers from within body and mind.
Exhibit A here in Boston: Red Sox third baseman Pablo “Kung Fu Panda” Sandoval, who arrived here, age 28, from San Francisco ahead of the 2015 season as a big-smiling, big-contract (five years/$95 million) big personality, acquired to ensure the Sox extended their string of World Series titles. He already had three Series rings in his pocket.
Weight got the best of Sandoval. Frustrated by the size of his expanding waistline and his anorexic numbers at the plate, the Sox cut him free in July 2017, willing to eat the $48.3 million remaining on his deal.
The Red Sox cut Pablo Sandoval free in July 2017, willing to eat the $48.3 million remaining on his deal.
The Red Sox cut Pablo Sandoval free in July 2017, willing to eat the $48.3 million remaining on his deal.Jim Davis
Today, age 38, Panda plays on — as an infielder with the Staten Island FerryHawks in the Atlantic League. Thorough Monday, he was hitting .255 with six homers and a team-high 25 RBIs in 26 games. The FerryHawks website listed their 5-10 former MLB star at 245 pounds.
One of the NFL’s more successful big men, William “The Refrigerator” Perry, played defensive tackle, drafted by the Bears as a first-rounder out of Clemson in 1985, He was 6-3 and played at 335 pounds. New England fans of a certain age will recall his signature moment, crashing over the line as a fullback for a TD in the Bears’ 46-10 humiliation of the Patriots in Super Bowl XX.
William "The Refrigerator" Perry played 8½ seasons with the Bears.
William "The Refrigerator" Perry played 8½ seasons with the Bears.Anonymous/Associated Press
Perry’s battle of the bulge, along with various injuries, increasingly impaired his career, though perhaps not to Panda proportions. He played 8½ seasons with the Bears, and a late tour with the Eagles filled out a 10-year career — truly impressive longevity in the churn-and-burn NFL for a man of any size. In Philadelphia, he played closer to his college weight of 390.
Post-career, the ever-smiling Perry ballooned into the mid-400 pounds and had at least one extended hospital stay for diabetes. He eventually became confined to a wheelchair, with his brother, ex-NFLer Michael Dean Perry, reportedly appointed his guardian and conservator.
Minicamp is a long, long way from any given Sunday, especially for undrafted free agents such as Desmond Watson. For today, he stands but a snap away from being yesterday’s news or tomorrow’s hero, placing him on even ground with everyone else in the NFL.
We now begin to find out if he can balance 437 pounds in his favor or if his appetite proves to be his undoing.
Kevin Paul Dupont can be reached at kevin.dupont@globe.com.