Georgia Football: Top 5 tight ends since 2000

#1: Ben Watson

Who else other than Ben Watson should be No. 1 on Georgia’s top-five tight ends of this millennium? No one because Watson is the best tight end that Georgia ever had.

Watson initially started his career out at Duke in 1999, then he transferred to Georgia in 2000, sat out a year, then played three years for the Dawgs.

As a Dawg, Watson collected 65 catches for 852 yards and six touchdowns. While that is a lot less than some of the other tight ends on this list, he comes in at No.1.

While Pope made me fall in love with the position, Watson solidified my love for Georgia and the New England Patriots when he went as the 32nd overall pick in the 2004 NFL Draft.

He played for a while with them, then went to the Cleveland Browns for a stint, then went to the New Orleans Saints from 2013-16 when Baltimore picked him up for a couple of years. Watson finished his career for the first time as a New Orleans Saints.

While most of us thought he had finished his football career, he suprised us all and decided to come out of retirement and play again, and the Patriots picked him up again.

However, this article is about his time as a Dawg. The catch he is most famous for at least, in my opinion, is the one that sealed the deal, put the nail in the coffin over Arkansas in the SEC Championship Game.

It was the first time since 1982 that the Dawgs could claim a conference championship, and it was the first of the modern SEC title game era.

Watson caught a 20-yard pass from David Greene during the eight-play, 81-yard march down the field. The touchdown gave the Dawgs the 30-3 score, and it secured the victory and knocked any life Arkansas had left in the tank.

Without Watson’s catch, that fourth-quarter could have gone differently, and the Dawgs could have lost the game. I’m not saying it would have happened, but you never know.

So thank Watson for that first SEC title along with that whole team because they were incredible to watch.

Watson takes the title of No. 1 tight end since 2000 because he helped Georgia become relevant again, and he also still has a career in the NFL, which is pretty impressive.

Georgia’s had a ton of successful tight ends since 2000, but these are my top five. How would you rank them? Let us know!