Background
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 worked as an office cleaner to support the family.
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 worked as an office cleaner to support the family.
He was drafted by the Raiders in the second round of the 2013 NFL Draft. He played college football at Florida State. 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.
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 (196 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. 2013 NFL Draft
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.