Texans think a healthy Deshaun Watson makes “a big difference”

[Toro]

Getty Images

Deshaun Watson‘s not rehabbing anything this offseason. Which means he can focus on getting better.

The Texans’ third-year quarterback lost much of last year’s program to recovery from his torn ACL, and coach Bill O’Brien said he thinks having Watson on the field this offseason will make “a big difference” for the team.

“I don’t think [Watson] has a ceiling,” O’Brien said on The Adam Schefter Podcast. “I think that it’s hard to put a ceiling on a guy like that because of who he is, how he works, his ability, his skill set [and] his passion for the game.

“He has had, now this season, a whole offseason of no limitations and coming back to the offseason program, a full go, can do everything. Training camp, full go. Last year, that wasn’t the case. He was limited in training camp, limited in the offseason program, so now he’ll have a full offseason, which I think will be big.”

Watson played through rib and lung problems last year, but didn’t miss a game. He was also sacked a league-high 62 times, and the Texans haven’t necessarily fixed that this offseason (signing tackle Matt Kalil probably isn’t making him sleep any easier). But O’Brien thinks Watson can make strides in his own play after completing 68.3 percent of his passes for 4.165 yards last season.

“I think there’s a lot of things he can do to improve,” O’Brien said. “He knows that; we know that. We’re going to try to improve some things around him. He’s working hard to improve his knowledge of defense, improve his mechanics, the way that he processes information, all of those things.

“When he comes back, we’ll start progressing with where we are with the playbook and we’ll start talking to him about those things.”

And having him able to work with his teammates can only help.