Cleveland Browns open to a ‘fresh start’ with QB Deshaun Watson
· Yahoo Sports
Albert Einstein, when asked to explain the concept of relative time, would use the analogy of, “when you sit with a nice girl for two hours, you think it is only a minute, but when you sit on a hot stove for a minute you think it’s two hours.”
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Cleveland Browns fans can relate to Einstein’s phrase when it comes to quarterback Deshaun Watson, who is entering the fifth and final year of the $230 million, fully guaranteed contract the team signed him to in 2022.
Given everything that has gone on since that fateful day, from a league suspension to below-average play and a pair of season-ending injuries, it has often felt more like 50 years that the Browns have been tied to Watson.
The end was coming into sight this year, however, as the Browns just needed to get through the 2026 season with Watson on the sidelines, and then the club would be in a position to move on without the salary cap implications crippling the roster.
But that seemingly simple plan that no one, outside of perhaps Watson’s agent, would complain about may have hit a bump in the road on Monday, thanks to owner Jimmy Haslam.
Speaking at the annual league meeting in Phoenix, where just a year earlier he declared the Watson trade a “swing and a miss,” Haslam now believes that it is time for a clean slate, thanks to the hiring of head coach Todd Monken (quotes via the Beacon Journal):
“I don’t think anybody in our organization would question (Deshaun’s) effort, his toughness, everything he’s put in the job. … Now, Deshaun has a great chance, a fresh start, an offensive-minded coach who has, in his past, been able to work with all kinds of different quarterbacks and make them successful. So Deshaun has a great chance to do that now.
“We’ve got three guys who have been successful at various levels, and let’s see how the competition goes. And we have a head coach who’s been very good at developing all kinds of different quarterbacks.”
Oh boy!
On the one hand, it is understandable where Haslam is coming from. He is paying Watson no matter what, so no harm in seeing if there is anything left from a player whose last good season was in 2020.
And with a quarterback room that includes Shedeur Sanders and Dillon Gabriel, who are fresh off posting two of the worst rookie seasons in the past 25 years, the competition is not exactly robust.
On the other hand, saying anyone is excited about the prospect of seeing Watson on the field in a Cleveland uniform this fall is stretching it. This is still the same player coming off a major shoulder injury in 2023, a right Achilles tendon that was torn twice in the span of three months, and has only played 19 games since arriving in town following the trade with the Houston Texans.
To his credit, Haslam did point out that the team is “cautiously optimistic” about Watson returning to his old form, so at least no one is rushing headlong into naming him the starter.
Still, the team was so close to writing the final chapter of one of the most disappointing chapters in franchise history. And it appeared that Haslam had seen the light with his “swing and a miss” comments from a year ago.
But the Browns are still the Browns, especially when it comes to quarterbacks, so it appears they may be setting the stage for another depressing competition this summer. One where the only winners are the opponents and the losers, as always, are the fans.