How Saints' Benjamin Watson lasted 15 years in the NFL

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New Orleans Saints tight end Benjamin Watson and his wife, Kirsten, are used to controlled chaos.

If one were to encounter the Watsons and their five children at the airport, one would see a family that operates like a well-oiled machine. The Watsons have made five cross-country moves over the 15 years of Ben's pro football career, so there aren't many things that could throw them for a loop. Ben attributes that to Kirsten, who has been the supportive glue holding the family together.

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It wasn't always that way. That Watson made it to a 15th year at a physically grueling position is fairly remarkable.

"Tight ends, they do a lot," Saints left tackle Terron Armstead said. "They have to know so much. ... They're asked to block like linemen and catch like receivers. It's impressive what he's been able to do ... the way he approaches the game, as hard as he prepares. Everything he does for his body, year after year, the injuries he's had."

Watson had his injuries like everyone else, from a torn ACL to a torn Achilles, but it was his own mental struggles that threatened the early part of his career.

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Little by little, his state of mind eroded over time, and he remembers the tipping point. Watson burned something on the stove and just started yelling, letting his frustrations out. Kirsten told him he needed to get help.

"She was definitely the support and the catalyst for me being willing to even explore speaking to someone just about how I'm feeling. Because again I feel like, I'm a football player, I'm a believer, I'm a Christian, I should just be able to be OK and deal with it," he said. "Part of it was the spiritual side of it, part of it was talking to my dad about some things. ... She definitely supported me and sometimes I would come home and I would be a jerk. I wouldn't be fun to be around because I had a bad day at practice. Or, I had a good day at practice and I was nice to be around. I was just up and down a lot of times during my time there in New England."

Watson slowly began to find the joy in football again. Prior to the 2018 season and through free agency, Watson returned to the Saints -- a team he had played with from 2013 through 2015.

"I had a couple of teams reach out, but I kind of felt like, if I was going to go somewhere, which I knew was going to be another year, year-to-year basically, it would be a one-year deal, I didn't want to go somewhere where I knew no one, where I didn't even know the system. What played into [going back to New Orleans] would be the fact that this was a team I felt would be on the rise and had good prospects of having a good season, which we have had during the regular season. All of that kind of played into deciding to play for one more year," Watson said.

Beyond football and the four teams he played for, Watson's biggest challenge was becoming a father. For the self-admitted perfectionist, fatherhood was the first step to learning to let go of the little things.

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When he was a single, 24-year-old rookie, Watson might have wanted to win that first Super Bowl for himself and his own goals. Now, at 38, with the end of his pro career in sight, his perspective has changed.

"I would get so much real joy out of having the family enjoy that experience," he said. "To me, having them enjoy everything that comes with it. Last time I was in it, we didn't have kids. Just hearing them talk about the possibilities and to see their faces if we won the game. To be able to see Kirsten as this whole thing kind of comes to a close and have that moment together, that would be the biggest thing for me.

"I'll be excited to be able to add another Super Bowl and to win another one, like everybody else in the playoffs would be as well, but being able to celebrate that together as a family, that would be the most special part."

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