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    Rich CiminiESPN Staff Writer

Relax, people. Tap the brakes. Chill out.

The Deshaun Watson fascination is understandable -- he was brilliant on Monday night -- but it's premature to say he's Mr. Right for the quarterback-starved New York Jets. The pre-draft process is only getting started, and teams still have a lot of work to do on Watson, an underclassman who just declared for the draft.

Picking sixth, the Jets might have their choice of any quarterback, which could be an awesome opportunity or a booby trap. Based on still-early evaluations of the top quarterbacks, it's probably the latter. No quarterback in this draft -- not Mitch Trubisky, not Watson, not DeShone Kizer -- is considered a sure thing. The folks at Scouts Inc. rank Trubisky, Watson and Kizer as the 21st, 38th and 46th prospects on their big board, respectively.

Ah, but Watson was so impressive against Alabama. He was everything you want in a franchise quarterback. Physically tough. Resilient. Poised. Clutch. He shredded the best defense in the country, passing for 420 yards and three touchdowns in the crucible of a championship game. He ran for a touchdown, too. Afterward, he was humble and said all the right things, a true face of the franchise.

The Jets, facing their bleakest quarterback situation in recent memory, need a guy like that. They need a player with "It" to elevate the franchise, but be careful: One spectacular game -- one half, actually -- doesn't mean Watson can be the savior.When it comes to quarterbacks, Jets fans fall in love quicker than the Kardashians, but this isn't speed dating. Believe me, I get it. It's been a long time since you could throw your arms around a quarterback.

Just be careful with your Deshaun crush.

A wider view of his body of work raises some questions. His 41 touchdown passes came with 17 interceptions, including four in the red zone (a lot) and 13 when facing no pressure, according to ESPN Stats & Information.Nine of the 17 picks came outside the numbers, which indicates a possible arm-strength issue.

Watson's touchdown-interception ratio in conference play was 21-10, hardly the stuff of legends.You have to be careful with college stats because they can be deceiving, both ways. Jameis Winston threw 18 interceptions in his final year at Florida State, but he still showed enough to be the top pick in 2015. He hasn't disappointed. Off-the-field concerns notwithstanding, Winston was a winner and a leader in college, as was Watson, who was 28-2 over the last two seasons.

Conversely, there's the Tajh Boyd story. He came out of the same Clemson system as Watson and posted terrific numbers in his final year (34 touchdowns, 11 interceptions), but he was an interception machine in the Jets' 2014 training camp. Now he's out of football.

"I think he's going to be a good pro," an NFC scout said of Watson after watching him in person this season. "I don't know if he fits a conventional offense, but so many teams are running variations of the spread option. I think that suits him."

Right now, the Jets are between coordinators, so they don't have a system.

"I think he's really talented and he's tougher than hell," the scout said of Watson. "Is he a franchise quarterback? People throw that term around too much. If you're asking me if he's Andrew Luck, no, he's not in that category. But he's better than Blake Bortles, and Bortles was the third pick [in 2014]."

A lot of quarterbacks are better than Bortles, and they weren't all premium draft picks.

I'm not convinced the Jets will pick a quarterback in the first round. The hunch is they pick up a veteran to go along with Bryce Petty and Christian Hackenberg. General manager Mike Maccagnan has one quarterback chip to play this offseason, and he can't afford to blow it. He has three months to make a sober evaluation of Watson, ignoring the buzz.

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