Cleveland Browns tight end 
Three years ago, Watson and his wife, Kirsten, welcomed their first child into the world, a daughter named Grace Makayla. In the time since Grace Makayla’s arrival, the Watsons have had two more children.
“It’s a privilege,” Watson said. “My oldest is three now, and I have three kids. It’s a blessing and it’s a responsibility. I take it with all seriousness. God has blessed my wife and I with these children to teach them and grow them up. It’s a tremendous responsibility, but also, a great joy.”
Watson described becoming a father as “unbelievable” and “something.”
“You hear people say, ‘If you’re not a father, you just don’t understand and there are just some things you can’t understand unless you have kids,’” Watson said. “Unless you’ve been up in the middle of the night, unless you’ve got poop on your hand and on your arm, unless you’ve seen your kids run up to you and say, ‘Daddy, Daddy,’ when you walk through the door, all those things I know my father experienced with me and my siblings. It’s just something only fathers know and it’s one of the greatest joys God gives us.”
In 2011, Watson completed his second season with the Browns. He caught 37 passes for 410 yards and two touchdowns in 13 games last fall. During his first year with the Browns, Watson started all 16 games and was the team’s leading receiver with 68 catches for 763 yards and scored three touchdowns.
For his career, Watson has played in 100 games and made 74 starts. He has gained 3,275 yards and scored 44 touchdowns on 272 receptions.
When Watson looks at what he has done as a player and, more importantly to him, as a person, the NFL veteran hopes he made his father, Ken Watson, proud.
“You know how dads are,” Watson said. “They’re going to tell you, ‘I’m proud of you,’ every now and then to your face, but then, you hear from other people, ‘Your dad was talking about you all the time.’ I think he is and I call him up sometimes when I make mistakes or when I don’t know how to handle a certain situation. Come to find out, he made a lot of mistakes too, but it’s great because now, we’re in a position where we can talk to each other as men and as friends and also, as father and son.”
Watson and his father have a speaking engagement together in Charlotte over the weekend. He and the family will stay down South and celebrate Father’s Day together.
“My father’s always been my role model,” Watson said. “My father’s been the one who taught me about the Lord, taught me what it meant to be a man, taught me how to be a husband. I look at him with the utmost respect and he’s always been my hero. I was definitely blessed to have a dad like that.”
