Deshaun Watson has only been in the NFL for three years, but he is already viewed as one of the best quarterbacks in the league.

The Houston Texans star is coming off of back-to-back Pro Bowl appearances and has also led his team to consecutive AFC South division titles, so Watson has already accomplished a fair amount early on in his career.

Of course, there is always room for improvement, and for Watson, showing progression in 2020 after stalling a bit this past season will be crucial.

That being said, the Texans were not exactly kind to Watson this offseason, trading away stud wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins for a rather minimal return.

So, what is the Fantasy Football outlook like for Watson heading into this coming season?

Let's break it down with the Deshaun Watson fantasy football outlook.

2019 Deshaun Watson Fantasy Stats

Watson got off to a torrid start in 2019, throwing 11 touchdown passes and just one interception through the first five games of the season. As a result, Watson was one of the earl MVP favorites.

However, as the season wore on, Watson faded.

From Weeks 6 through 16 (he did not play in Week 17 because the Texans already had the division locked up), Watson threw 15 touchdowns and 11 picks, rather pedestrian numbers for a top-flight signal-caller.

That was in stark contrast to 2018, when Watson threw just two interceptions from Week 7 on.

Overall, Watson finished with solid numbers this past year, throwing for 3,852 yards, 26 touchdowns and 12 picks while completing 67.3 percent of his passes and posting a passer rating of 98. He also rushed for 413 yards and seven scores.

However, he was a bit off of his 2018 pace.

That's not to say Watson wasn't a good fantasy quarterback. He finished fourth among all signal-callers in total fantasy points in 2019 and was actually No. 2 in average points per week, so if you drafted Watson last year, you still did very well.

It's just that Watson was a bit of a disappointment in the fact that he showed virtually no improvement from the year prior, and an argument can actually be made that he even took a small step backward.

2020 Deshaun Watson Fantasy Football Projections

We are really about to see what Watson is made of in 2020.

Hopkins was a genuine superstar who was not only an athletic freak, but a mistake eraser. So, if Watson ever threw any balls behind Hopkins or too high for him, Hopkins was likely to clean those errors up.

But now, Watson no longer has Hopkins at his disposal.

To be fair, the Texans did go out and add Randall Cobb and then Brandin Cooks, the latter of whom came over via trade. Will Fuller remains on board, and Kenny Stills is a nice fourth option. But not having that bona fide No. 1 receiver in Hopkins will certainly make things tougher for Watson. Not having an upper-echelon tight end hurts, too.

Also, Houston is relying on the aging, injury-marred David Johnson (whom the club got back from the Arizona Cardinals in the Hopkins trade) at running back, which is a problem.

So really, Watson will likely have to improvise quite a bit this coming season without Hopkins and with very little continuity with so many new faces. Let's keep in mind that the COVID-19 pandemic has made offseason work very difficult, so it's not like Watson has had much time to work with the new additions.

All of that being said, Watson is still talented enough to have a good year. Again, I think 2020 will be a big challenge for him, because he no longer has his top target and his offensive line remains a huge issue, but he also surely realizes that this could be a defining season for him.

Look for Watson to throw for around 4,000 yards with 25 touchdowns, much like he did in 2019. But perhaps this year, he will take better care of the football than he did last season. As far as rushing? Watson will probably be around 500 yards and five scores. He isn't Lamar Jackson, but his ability to run certainly adds something to his statistical output.

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Texans owner Cal McNair

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Rank at Position

Here is where it gets tricky.

Watson has been a top-five fantasy quarterback in each of the last two seasons, but he also had one of the best wideouts in football as a running mate.

You have to assume that a healthy Patrick Mahomes will surge past Watson in 2020, and Jackson will almost surely be ahead of him given his ability to rack up 1,000 yards on the ground. Then you have quarterbacks like Dak Prescott, Russell Wilson, Kyler Murray, Tom Brady, Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers (heck, maybe even Josh Allen and Daniel Jones with their legs) competing with him.

Watson compares most similarly to Prescott and Wilson in terms of how good they are as passers and how much they run the football, so he will probably be fighting with them for fantasy points.

I personally think Mahomes and Jackson will finish as the top two, and after that, it's a crapshoot. Prescott and Wilson probably have the edge over Watson, as Prescott has more weapons in Dallas and Wilson has more continuity in Seattle. In the case of guys like Brady, Brees and Rodgers, we have to see how much they have left in the tank.

A third straight top-five finish is certainly not out of the realm of possibility for Watson, who has the benefit of wheels over the older signal-callers I just mentioned.

Regardless, you will probably be just fine if you take Watson as your quarterback. Just don't expect him to be in the same class as Mahomes or Jackson.