Albert Einstein wasn't a football coach (in fact, it is doubtful if he had an awareness of any kind of sport, let alone any insight into it), but the German brainbox certainly had a quote for just about every occasion (relatively speaking, of course).
Hits
It is precisely that lack of physical engagement - as limited by the CBA - that is likely to affect Okoye's chances of being on the 53-man roster, or even the practice squad, come early September.
He can study the position all he wants - and, by all accounts, he is a prodigious technician, who works fiercely at the mental side of things - but he is just not getting anywhere near the practical side of things as yet.
And, once pre-season camps open up, he will be a LONG way behind the other linemen and even special teamers when the pads and helmets go on and the hits start coming, as they inevitably do when 90 players are battling for those 53 spots.
Watson, too, will find the pace and physicality of things taking a BIG upward tick and his relative lack of repetitions will start to be a major drawback (as well as his penchant for saying "You know" at the beginning and end of every sentence!).
That isn't to say either player is without a chance of carving a significant Brit-inspired niche in the NFL ranks. The Raiders, for all their draft futility in recent years (witness them having to pay ultimate flop JaMarcus Russell a £3million 'bonus' this week, despite the fact he last played for them FOUR years ago; and that the team is having to write off almost $50m of salary cap money this season for players no longer on their roster), were not alone in seeing Watson as a prime talent, and it is hard to see him not making the 53-man cut.
Equally, Okoye will get to learn under the tutoring of defensive line coach Jim Tomsula, who has a fabulous track record of taking unrefined talent and turning it into the polished finished article.
But anyone who expects to see either one of them in a September starting line-up, either tossing aside marauding defensive linemen or charging through to scrag the quarterback, may well be sorely disappointed.
This time next year may be a very different story, though.
