With the 2025 NFL Draft in the mirror, some players are going to find themselves on the roster bubble, especially ones who signed for a less expensive deal in free agency. One player that could find himself in this situation is former Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Justin Watson, who inked a bargain deal with the Houston Texans in free agency.
Watson, who spent three years with the Chiefs, signed with the Texans to give them some depth at wide receiver after they lost help at the position. Well, now that the Texans have added not one, but two wide receivers in the draft (Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel, who played together at Iowa State), Watson's seat in Houston might be red hot.
Justin Watson could find himself on the outside looking in with new team
Watson was never a superstar for the Chiefs by any means, but he was a familiar weapon for Patrick Mahomes. In 2023, Watson tallied 27 receptions for 460 yards and three touchdowns, all career-highs. He was a part of two Super Bowl winning Chiefs teams (and also won a Super Bowl with the Buccaneers in 2020 against Kansas City) so if the Texans did opt to part ways with him, it could make sense for the Chiefs to scoop him back up.
As of this writing, the Chiefs' starting wide receivers would be Hollywood Brown, Rashee Rice, and Xavier Worthy with the main depth pieces being rookie fourth-rounder Jalen Royals and veteran JuJu Smith-Schuster. Skyy Moore is still on the roster but we know what he is at this point and that's unreliable.
Watson, however, could be an easy option to re-sign because he's familiar with Mahomes and the offense. If the Texans don't want to let him fight for a roster spot, the Chiefs likely wouldn't have an issue bringing him back to Kansas City for cheap.
We'll have to see how things unfold for Watson with his new team but considering they now have two ballers from Iowa State along with Nico Collins and Christian Kirk, he's going to be looked at as expendable. That could be a positive for the Chiefs if so.