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Jaylen Watson may not have been a name you knew until Thursday night, when the rookie cornerback for the Kansas City Chiefs returned a Justin Herbert interception 99 yards (!) for what would be the game-winning score in a 27-24 win.
But now you do, and the tale of how he went from struggling college player to NFL starter is worth talking about.
The Augusta Chronicle told his story back in April: He enrolled at Ventura College, got recruited to USC, but had to de-commit for academic reasons.
So the cornerback moved to Augusta and worked at Wendy’s with his mom.
“Working at Wendy’s, I realized I only had two choices,” he told the newspaper. “Either get my grades right and change for the better so that I could live the lifestyle I wanted to live, or put up with that kind of life I was living for the rest of my life, and it was an easy choice.”
So that’s what he did. And he ended up at Washington State, impressed scouts and ended up a seventh-round pick of the Chiefs, pushed into action as a starter because Trent McDuffie got hurt.
Yes, we’ll remember Derwin James body slamming Travis Kelce or Herbert throwing a late TD while hurt or even the Roger Goodell and Jeff Bezos memes from that game.
But we should also remember this comeback story with quite an ending. And his story’s not over yet.
Quick hits: Everyone missed the Collinsworth Slide … Look out, security guard! … and more.
— Everyone’s missing the Collinsworth Slide now that Al Michaels is on Thursday Night Football.
— This security guard had the best reaction to missing being hit by a flying Oneil Cruz bat.
— Here are your Week 2 NFL prop bets.
— A Michael Jordan “Last Dance” jersey sold for over $10 MILLION!