Brady: Watson has a great future

New England Patriots star Tom Brady was candid when asked about what he thinks of Houston Texans rookie Deshaun Watson's future as an NFL quarterback.

"He's had such a great college career and got picked by a great team," Brady told reporters after the Patriots-Texans joint team practice Wednesday. 

"So watching him play, he has a great future. He has all the ability and it was great to meet him."

While Patriots QB Brady, 40, and Watson did not exactly have similar college football experiences, their early NFL careers could be very similar. Or, at least, the situations both players came into are very similar.

The Patriots had a very good defence and a solid running back in Antowain Smith when Brady – a five-time Super Bowl champion and four-time MVP – first started working with Bill Belichick.

As for Watson, the Texans had one of the best defences in the NFL in 2016 and they have a good running back in Lamar Miller coming back under Bill O'Brien, who coincidentally is a Belichick disciple.

Watson, 21, has been put in a position to succeed, and practicing opposite to Brady and seeing him play on the same field can only help his development.

"It's always good to be able to learn and watch a guy like Tom Brady, one of the best to ever do it — see him in live practice and how he works," Watson said, via ESPN.

"What we talked about, we kind of congratulated each other on all the success we've had and he had a little tip here and there on this league, this system and Coach [Bill O'Brien]. It was a good talk."