Deshaun Watson ditched the knee brace this week during Houston Texans mandatory minicamp. After two days of work, the second-year quarterback said he's right on track in his recovery from a torn ACL suffered in November.
"The knee is doing good," Watson said Wednesday, via the Houston Chronicle. "For the nine-week goal we put in from the beginning (of the offseason program), I'm pretty much where I wanted to be. Kind of passed it inside in the weight room, mentally and also on the field, so everything's going smoothly right now."
Seven months since tearing his ACL, Watson is participating in everything but 11-on-11 team drills, which puts him on track to be ready for training camp in about six weeks.
"I'm not really surprised," he said of how well his rehabilitation has gone. "I kind of knew where I was going to be because I put the time in the work in every morning. I've just been grinding. I'm right where I need to be and where I want to be."
The knee injury wiped out Watson's surging rookie season. The Clemson product threw for 1,699 yards and 19 TDs in just seven appearances.
With Texans coach Bill O'Brien revamping the offense to tailor it to Watson, having the quarterback ready for training camp would be a big boon.
Heading into the 2018 season, Houston looms as a boom-or-bust team depending on how all their injuries shake out. If everyone -- Watson, J.J. Watt, Jadeveon Clowney, Whitney Mercilus -- returns healthy, the Texans are a playoff contender. At this stage that's an amorphous "if."
