After adding much to the offensive side of the ball in free agency, the San Francisco 49ers announced they signed LB Dekoda Watson to a three-year deal. Watson will be entering his eighth season and has played in 89 games and registered 88 tackles. He was originally drafted by the Buccaneers and has spent time in Jacksonville, Dallas, New England and Denver.
Watson is a special teams ace who led the Broncos with 11 tackles on special teams in just nine games in 2017. Additionally, he has registered four sacks, four passes defensed, four fumble recoveries and three forced fumbles along with his 50 special teams career tackles. It is worth noting Watson had a huge preseason last year, with Marcus Rush the only pass rusher with more sacks in the preseason. The color man for Broncos preseason broadcasts? John Lynch.
Watson has had some history with injuries which sidelined him while in Jacksonville. He missed the entire 2014 offseason program due to a sports hernia. He did have a healthy 2016 in Denver, playing in all 16 games.
29 year old Watson played at Florida State University for four seasons, and appeared in 47 games. As a senior in 2009, Watson registered 65 tackles, 6.5 sacks which earned him Second-Team All-ACC honors.