Menelik Watson

Menelik Watson

refer to caption Watson with the Oakland Raiders
No. 71 Oakland Raiders
Position:	Offensive tackle
Personal information
Date of birth:	(1988-12-22) December 22, 1988
Place of birth:	Manchester, England, United Kingdom
Height:
Weight:
Career information
High school:	Manchester (GB) Burnage
College:	Florida State
NFL draft:	2013 / Round: 2 / Pick: 42
Career history
Oakland Raiders (2013–present)
Roster status:	Injured reserve
Career highlights and awards
ACC Champion (2012)
Career NFL statistics as of Week 17, 2014
Games played: 17 Games started: 12 Player stats at NFL.com

Menelik Watson (born December 22, 1988) is an English American football offensive tackle for the Oakland Raiders of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Raiders in the second round of the 2013 NFL Draft. He played college football at Florida State.

Early and personal life

Watson was born into a single-parent family of four brothers and a sister raised on the Anson Estate in Longsight, Greater Manchester, England; his mother, originally from Jamaica, worked as an office cleaner to support the family.

At Burnage High School he excelled at sport. However, he broke his right ankle in 2001 while playing football in the park, meaning that he could not progress in his hopes of playing for Manchester City. Advised by a doctor not to play any more sports, he eventually joined the school basketball team, where he was spotted in a local tournament by American coach Rob Orellana, who signed him up for his basketball academy based in the Canary Islands.

Watson has a daughter Orellana—named in honour of his mentor Rob—who lives in Manchester with her mother.

College career

Watson played college basketball for Marist College, which he attended from 2009 to 2010.

However, after it became clear that even at 6 feet 5 inches (1.96 m) Watson was too short to play power forward, Orellana transferred Watson to Saddleback College where he played American football for the first time. Watson played right tackle, opposite of left tackle Kyle Long. After a single year at Saddleback, he transferred to Florida State University, where he started 12 of 13 games for the Florida State Seminoles football team during the 2012 season, allowing just one quarterback sack.

Watson announced that he would enter the NFL draft after his junior season.

Professional career

2013 NFL Draft

Pre-draft measurables

Ht	Wt	Arm length	Hand size	40-yd dash	10-yd split	20-yd split	20-ss	3-cone	Vert	Broad	BP
6 ft 5 in	310 lb	34 in	10 3/8 in	5.29 s			5.01 s	8.31 s	24.5 in	8 ft 7 in
All values from NFL combine.

Watson was drafted in the second round of the 2013 NFL Draft (forty-second overall) by the Oakland Raiders.

Watson dressed for 5 games while starting for 3 of them in his rookie year.

On 28 September 2014, Watson was named Raiders' honorary captain for the International Series game against the Miami Dolphins, leading the Raiders out at Wembley Stadium.

In December 2014, Watson donated his game check to a four-year-old Oakland Raiders fan with Hypoplastic left heart syndrome, which is estimated to be around $18,000.

On August 30, 2015, Watson suffered a torn Achilles tendon during the third preseason game against the Arizona Cardinals. On September 1, 2015, the Raiders placed Watson on injured reserve.

External links

• Oakland Raiders bio
• Florida State Seminoles bio
• Saddleback College bio