Before last year’s draft, the Eagles had a glaring need at
offensive line. Entering the draft, they
took a long look at who could help them fill the need for a large human being
to stand in front of the quarterback and battle in the trenches.
The Birds chose, with the 23rd overall pick,
Danny Watkins, who was 26 years old at the time. Obviously this player was an interesting specimen. “Why would they be drafting a 26 year old?”,
some of the more critical fans asked. What
this 26 year old makes up for is fresh legs;
perhaps the freshest in the sport.
Watkins took up football when he was 22, after a coach at
his college (where he was attending to fight fires) asked him to join the
team. He did and quickly became the
small college’s star football player. Watkins
quickly transferred to Baylor in Texas and became a standout for the squad.,
and finally was drafted onto the Birds, and became their starting right guard
last year.
Some people might ask why Watkins, a large physical presence
at 310 lbs., would take so long to take up a sport that is dominated by his type?
Well, that’s rather easy. Watkins is from Canada, where football and
just about every other sport take a back seat to hockey. When you’re that weight, unless your name is Dustin
Byfuglien, it is rather difficult to be anything except a
really intimidating enforcer.
That’s a good indicator as to why the Eagles picked their
current right guard from Baylor. He hasn’t
been through a multitude of physical bruising and beat downs that most players
who choose a career path to the NFL are put through.
On the other side of the coin, he is more raw than players
that have been through countless seasoning and coaches to prepare them for the
sport’s uppermost echelon of competition.
It might surprise some people that Canada, where Watkins is
from, has its own football league.
Football in Canada has a history shared with the
States. The first football game, in its
modern form, was played between Harvard and McGill, a university in Montreal,
in 1871. It has turned into the country’s
second most popular league after the NHL.
The CFL was founded in 1958 and currently has 8 teams. As a fan, I think this league has some of
sports’ greatest names such as the Toronto Argonauts (ancient myth), the
Calgary Stampeders (not a word), and the Hamilton TigerCats (not only a tiger;
not just a cat).
Slightly different than the NFL rules, the CFL plays with 3 downs instead of 4 and 110 yards instead of 100. This makes teams focus on passing and a lot more speed.
The league’s season starts in June, as to avoid Canada’s
dreaded winter. Green Bay is cold in the
winter, there is no getting around that obviously. But could you imagine playing in these cities
outdoors in the wintry chill of January? I certainly couldn't.
Watkins was drafted by the league in 2010, but this was
ignored by the 6 foot 3 right guard and he returned for his senior year at
Baylor.
If Watkins can live up to the potential he showed the team
when at Baylor, the Eagles will be glad they took a chance by drafting one of
only a few Canadians that play in the NFL today.
