The Cleveland Browns had a massive opportunity on Nov. 1 to sweep the Pittsburgh Steelers and strengthen their hold on first place in the AFC North, but they delivered a dud. Cleveland was dominated, and coupled with Sunday's overtime loss to the New Orleans Saints, the team sits third in the division at 5-4.
While the Browns have a lot that they need to work through after back-to-back losses, their most discussed position is quarterback.
Veteran Deshaun Watson is in the middle of an interesting season where the talk around him ranges from possibly being Comeback Player of the Year to how a lot of metrics say he’s still a bottom-tier quarterback. Shedeur Sanders' stellar spot start against the Saints with Watson recovering from a concussion reignited a QB debate that's been raging since the spring.
With Watson being in the final season of his contract, and Cleveland’s future at quarterback being unknown, every week is important for the veteran quarterback and the franchise.
Because of that reality, we’re going to do a weekly Deshaun Watson extension meter.
After each game that Watson plays — he's scheduled to resume his role as Cleveland's starter in Week 10, per NFL insider Jeremy Fowler — the meter will receive a number between 1 and 10, with 1 meaning his time in Cleveland is finished after the season, and 10 representing that the Browns will give Watson a new deal.
Following Watson's Week 8 loss to the Steelers — and Sanders' impressive spot start in his absence — the Watson extension meter remains at a 3.
Deshaun Watson's Browns future is losing momentum after Steelers loss, Shedeur Sanders' emergence
Again, Cleveland had a ton of issues in Watson's last start against Pittsburgh. The Browns couldn’t run the ball or pass protect, and the defense also struggled.
However, Watson didn’t do much to help despite his deceiving stat line. The veteran quarterback completed 27-of-39 passes for 324 yards, was sacked eight times, and also fumbled once.
Adding that performance to what Watson has done all season is how the extension meter lands on 3. An extension looks to be pretty unlikely, and while Watson has done a few things this season to move the meter from 1, he hasn’t done nearly enough for it to make sense for Cleveland to even make him an extension offer in 2027.
Watson has made some timely plays, contributing to the Browns’ five wins, but the Steelers game was another reminder that he’s ultimately playing like a below-average quarterback for a struggling offense. His inconsistent play is compounded by Sanders looking like a young quarterback who could develop into a viable option for the team in 2027, if he's given more opportunities to play.
Considering all that Cleveland gave up in picks and money to secure Watson five years ago, and how much of a disaster his first four seasons with the team were, it was always going to take a special 2026 season for an extension to make any type of sense.
With plenty of football left to be played, and Watson set to resume his post as the starter, this year still has a chance to be special for Watson and the Browns. Now dealing with their first losing streak of the season, they have a lot of ground to cover, though.
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