The best moments of the NFL draft are the human ones, the times when you can see through all the pain and sacrifice and hard work and understand just how big an achievement it is for both players and their families to reach this level. Deshaun Watson quarterbacked Clemson to the national championship less than four months ago, and he’s now a member of the Houston Texans. Shortly after his selection, he was handed a letter written by his mother, Deann. He read it on camera.

“I watched you play your first flag football game all the way to the last college game,” Deann Watson wrote. “To be here at the NFL draft and see you walk across the stage is a dream come true. I’m so proud of the man and the person you became.”

Deann Watson raised Deshaun and his three siblings in one room before moving to the Atlanta suburbs. Stricken with cancer, she had her tongue surgically removed when Watson was in his teens. When Watson reached the point in the letter where she said that the family “wasn’t supposed to be here,” he lost his composure and began weeping. It was a touching moment.

“I love you, momma,” Watson said in reply. “We made it.”

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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports and the author of EARNHARDT NATION, on sale now at Amazon or wherever books are sold. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter or on Facebook.

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