On the surface, success has persistently followed Benjamin Watson.
He has been an All-SEC selection, an NFL first-round draft pick and a Super Bowl champion. He has caught passes from certain first-ballot Hall of Fame quarterbacks Tom Brady and Drew Brees.
During his time with the Cleveland Browns, Watson led the team in receptions. While the vast majority of NFL careers last three years or less, Watson will begin the 2014 season as an 11-year NFL veteran.
Yet things have not always been easy for Watson during his NFL tenure.
“In my first five years in the league, I had five different surgeries,” Watson says. “Being injured was very isolating. I felt alone, and I felt like I wasn’t contributing on the field.”
When the Plan Changed
Watson was finally able to get his injuries under control and had a very successful three-year stretch with the Cleveland Browns.
He played well on the field, matured as a family man and deepened his faith off the field alongside his teammates. Things seemed to be going according to plan.
Then the Browns chose not to re-sign him.
Watson was able to sign with the New Orleans Saints, but a new reality was about to set in. Signing with the Saints meant he would be a backup to Pro Bowl tight end Jimmy Graham.
“For the first time in my career, there was no longer a plan to get me the ball. I had to play a role now,” Watson tells me. “You get slapped in the face so many times in this league that you have to find your identity outside of it.”
An Identity Beyond the NFL
That is how success is defined in Benjamin Watson’s life.
It is not defined by the logo on his helmet, his total number of NFL starts, catches, touchdowns, playoff wins or Super Bowl rings.
“We were designed to work,” he offers. “Yet our work was never designed to be who we are totally.”
Who Benjamin Watson is begins and ends with who Jesus Christ is.
It is through the work of Christ and His grace that Watson finds his joy, hope and security. No NFL paycheck or career highlight can provide that.
Learning to Accept Grace
Watson became a Christian at age 5 when his father, who is a pastor, shared the beauty of John 3:16 with him one night as they sat on Benjamin’s bed.
“Right there,” Watson says, “I repented of my sins and put my faith in Jesus. He was the payment for my sins that I could not pay myself.”
From then on, Watson grew in his faith.
There were struggles at times, especially in dealing with the pressure to be perfect in everything he did. Yet as he matured in his faith, he realized he was saved by grace and not through his own perfect works, much like Ephesians 2:8-9 reads.
“I realized I had to accept my failures so that I can accept His grace,” Watson says.
Offering One More Person Hope
Watson has a heart to extend that same grace to those in need through his foundation, One More.
At the core of One More, Benjamin and his wife, Kirsten, desire to spread the hope and love of Christ by meeting the real needs of people.
Watson realizes he has been given a unique opportunity to share the gospel with others simply because of what he does.
Yet being a New Orleans Saint does not make Benjamin Watson.
Being a saint in Jesus Christ means everything to him.