3 roadblocks Deshaun Watson will never be able to avoid as Browns quarterback
By John Suchan
Deshaun Watson is the new quarterback of the Cleveland Browns and while he’s been successful in the past, he’ll never escape these roadblocks
Becoming the next Cleveland Browns quarterback will always be difficult for the latest contestant no matter the previous back story. We’ve had more than our share of quarterbacks roll through this town and that trend will likely continue into the foreseeable future. However, the team’s latest starter, Deshaun Watson, would like that to certainly not be the case.
Watson joined the Browns with a horrid back story and returned to the field for the past two games after serving his 11-game. He also missed all of 2021, so he hadn’t played in a game in almost two seasons — and it shows. Watson has been known to be able to dance around in the offensive backfield and escape the defenders many times over. That ability to do that is special and is part of the reason why the Browns brought him to Cleveland.
The problem though for Watson and for that matter, the organization, is that they won’t be able to escape several hard-core attitudes and strong beliefs by the fan base that have already started to shape Watson’s time as a Brown. Let’s take a look at three of those roadblocks that will be hard to maneuver. They may not be fair assessments of the new guy but they’re where we stand today in the chatter around the water coolers.
No. 3 roadblock for Deshaun Watson – The $230 million dollar man
The price tag for Watson, guaranteeing him $230 million, hasn’t sat well. Not only is that a major cost, but the team has given up its next three years of first-round picks as well when they traded for him from the Houston Texans. Certainly, the organization planned for this dissatisfaction and is okay with the daily reminders in social media spheres when things aren’t always going smoothly. Still, this grand number of $230 million will never escape Watson’s time here.
With every incomplete pass or interception, as we’ve seen in his first two games, there will be that daily reminder that they spent $230 million on this guy. It’s easy to do as fans to be critical of your favorite team, and in this case for Cleveland fans, it only gives them more opportunity to throw salt into the wound when things look bleakest. Right now, in a season that has been lost before it started, there hasn’t been much joy in “Browns Town”.
While Watson may be able to ignore the number that he’s valued at and play through the ups and downs of this transition period, there will be many that won’t let it rest and will remind him that they mortgaged a huge part of their franchise for him. If he can’t produce victories for Cleveland, then this whole experiment will be deemed a failure.
Winning can mask many problems and the Browns will try to get back those ways but it’ll be a tall task to achieve, especially with the way things have started here recently with Watson under center.