Why it’s not a foregone conclusion that Deshaun Watson’s Browns career is over: Mary Kay Cabot

Of course, Cousins ​​was at his best when he was injured in Week 8, leading the league in touchdown passes and ranking second in passing yards.

Watson, on the other hand, ranks 27th in the NFL with a 79.0 rating and last in ESPN’s QBR rankings with a 23.5 rating. The Browns were 1-6 in his seven starts, and analysts and fans everywhere were clamoring for his replacement.

But the Browns held firm, in part because they believed Watson (9-10 in three seasons here) would be better if things around him improved, and they wanted to see what he could do in his first full season here. He started just six games in each of his first two seasons, going 3-3 during his suspension year in 2022 and 5-1 in 2023 with a broken shoulder, including a win over the Colts in which he was pulled from games. first quarter.

So much has gone wrong for the Browns this season that it’s been hard to properly evaluate Watson (137 of 216, 1,148 yards, 5 TDs, 3 INTs, 33 sacks, 79.0 rating), who had surgery in November to recover. repair of a broken shoulder and labral tear. With so many injured players in camp, the rebuilt offense never had time to gel. Their three offensive tackles did not recover from knee surgeries as quickly as hoped in Jack Conklin, Jedrick Wills Jr. and Dawand Jones, and only Jones was ready to start the season. But he struggled in the first four games and was replaced by Conklin at right tackle two games ago.

When the Browns take the field Sunday with Jones replacing the injured Wills at left tackle, it will be their seventh line combination in eight games. Largely because of this, Watson was sacked a league-leading 33 times and scored 85 points. He was also under pressure for his 106 dropbacks. Some of them are his own fault, but not as many as some might think. According to Pro Football Focus, he was given some blame in 15.1% of his 25th-best rushing attempts in the league.

Watson was also tied for third in the league with 15 passes dropped, including a league-best 10 from Amari Cooper, before he was traded to the Bills on Oct. 15. Cooper, who missed voluntary team activities and refused mandatory minicamps in a contract dispute over a salary extension and/or raise, was no shadow of his five-time Pro Bowl selection in the six games he played here. After it was reported that the Browns had offered him in exchange for 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk, Cooper wrote on Instagram, “lol, I wouldn’t mind at all,” and then continued to play like he didn’t want to be here be.

He dropped solid TD passes in each of his first two games and had a terrible outing in Las Vegas, allowing a pass to bounce off his chest and be picked off and running the wrong way in a potential game-winning attempt late in the game. . In the loss to the Eagles, he committed a costly face mask penalty on a potential game-winning play and dropped a first pass on third down for a “three and out.”

With David Njoku missing all or most of Weeks 2-5 with a high ankle sprain, the Browns needed Cooper to make big strides, and he did the opposite. Essentially, Watson was without his two best weapons for most of the first five weeks of the season in a new offense with serious defensive issues. Some of the woes were his fault, such as missing open receivers and getting into a few sacks, but with two of his best weapons missing or ineffective, as well as questionable defenses, he lacked confidence for much of the season. Even Commanders quarterback Jonathan Allen, who beat Watson 1-1 in the college national championship, noted after the Commanders sacked him seven times and hit him 11 times that he wasn’t the same QB he remembered from To Clemson.

“Frankly, he looked like a player who had something going on above his shoulders,” Allen said in an interview. his weekly appearance on 106.7 The Fan’s The Sports Junkies. “What’s going on is definitely about trust. I always tell people: It doesn’t matter how great a player you are, if you don’t have confidence, you’re a bad player.”

Aware of the deep-seated problems around him, Watson didn’t always play as boldly as he did in Baltimore’s 33-31 win last season.

Additionally, as the season progressed, it became painfully obvious that the new offense, with its heavy emphasis on the spread and RPOs, was not the right fit for this group, at least not since Kevin Stefanski named it. Watson never got a chance to see if he would have more success with offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey calling plays because Stefanski refused to hand over until Jameis Winston was named the starter for Sunday’s game against the Ravens. It also means that if Winston plays better than Watson, the Browns won’t know whether it’s because Watson gave up so much or because he didn’t have Dorsey’s calls, among other things.

The Browns now also have David Njoku, Nick Chubb and Wyatt Teller back to help Winston. Cooper, who was mostly a liability here, is gone and some young players like Cedric Tillman will get a chance to shine.

The Browns would also like to get something for their money if they can. Watson will be paid nearly $73 million in each of the next two seasons and nearly $27 million in 2027. If the Browns decide to cut their losses and release Watson, their June 1 dead cap hit would be untenable at $172.7 million. and $119 million after June 1.

If the Browns decide to bring him back and try to make it work in some capacity, they could look to the Falcons as a precedent. The Falcons signed Cousins ​​to a four-year free agent contract in the offseason worth $180 million, including $100 million guaranteed, despite him coming off Achilles surgery. Then they made a splash by selecting quarterback Michael Penix with the No. 8 pick from Washington.

The Browns, who currently have the No. 2 overall pick in the draft, could do something similar and bring back Watson and draft a high-profile quarterback. They could also sign one as a free agent with good young players like Pittsburgh’s Justin Fields in the final year of their contract, or trade for one. Trading one of them by the November 5 deadline seems unlikely, but they could do so when the market opens again in March.

If Watson returns healthy but the Browns move on to another starter, they could always try to get something for him in a trade. He could also stay on as a backup while he continues to heal from his Achilles. I’m told Watson will still be ready to play at Huntington Bank Field, although some fans cheered him when he was injured, and that he plans to wrestle after surgery.

The procedure will affect his play more than the much less mobile Cousins, but he will turn 30 next year and is also seven years younger than Cousins ​​and 10 years younger than Aaron Rodgers, who underwent a “fast bridge” recovery last season Achilles Rodgers has started all seven games for the Jets this season, going 2-5.

Granted, Watson didn’t remotely resemble the four-time Pro Bowler he was in Houston, but over the final four quarters here he was 26 of 29 for 250 yards and a 102.6 rating and put the Browns in position for the game-winning touchdown. in Philadelphia before two false starts derailed it. He also kept them in contention for the deciding score in a 21-14 loss to the Bengals last week when he collapsed to the ground with a shaky calf.

Watson may never be a major league quarterback again, but that doesn’t mean the Browns won’t bring him back in some repurposed role and try to salvage something from their fully guaranteed $230 million, $46 million per year , the first three are a round selection of investments. They still have some work to do, but at this point it’s too early to say he’s gone for good.