Moments after he was confirmed as the Cleveland Browns' Week 1 starting quarterback by head coach Todd Monken, Deshaun Watson opened his press conference with local reporters with some lengthy opening remarks.
Before he could take questions on achieving a goal that seemed far-fetched back in January of 2025, when he suffered a re-tear of his Achilles tendon, Watson had to address the elephant in the room.
His relationship with Browns fans hit an all-time low following Saturday’s 31-7 preseason loss to the Buffalo Bills. Watson got booed when he led the offense onto the field in the third quarter and throughout his four ugly series that went mostly nowhere. Afterward, he vented how the fan reaction was “personal” and how he gets “more love” from opposing fans on the road.
Watson spent nearly 2 minutes and 30 seconds walking back those comments on Monday, but he clearly needs a new public relations team. Watson’s comments stopped short of anything resembling an apology or a clear admission of fault.
Everything Deshaun Watson said (and didn’t say) about his emotional comments directed at Browns fans
The first problem with Watson’s remarks was the length. Speaking uninterrupted for over two minutes is way too long. Watson should have had a clear and concise statement prepared, whether he truly believed what he was saying or not.
What Watson should have opened with
“Saturday after the game, I was wrong in how I addressed the fans. I understand the frustration and apologize for my comments. I was emotional coming off the field but that’s not an excuse. My tenure in Cleveland has been a failure up to this point, and I failed the fans again with my responses after the game. It’s an honor to be named the starting quarterback of the Cleveland Browns, and I’m going to do everything in my power to lead this team to wins and give the fans something to cheer about the next time I’m out on that field.”
What Watson actually opened with
“First off, I want to address the comments from Saturday after the game. You know, I think just human nature, myself being very emotional, putting a lot of time these last two years to, you know, spend time in this facility, this city, meet a lot of people in the community. You know, I thought I was going to get a little different response. But I think my emotions got the best of me, and my comments wasn’t intended to go at any of the fans around in the city, because there have been a lot of great fans that have been supporting me. And I know the frustration. This organization has put a lot of investment in coming to get me back in 2022, and things haven’t been going the right direction that we thought it would. A lot of injuries. A lot of time off. And not playing the best football and my [best] foot forward.”
Let’s pause here for a minute. The point Watson continues to miss is that the fans have every right to voice their displeasure from the stands, especially when their starting quarterback struggles to move the ball against the Bills' backups.
The message shouldn’t be that there are still a lot of great fans that have been supporting him around the city. That’s a backhanded compliment. What’s missing was accountability. He never said the words “I'm sorry” or “I apologize,” and he never took responsibility for his own role in what deteriorated his relationship with fans in the first place.
At any rate, Watson had a lot more to say, starting with a word he repeated often: “again.”
“So, again, just I understand the frustration. I understand everything that kind of goes into that. And moving forward I just want to focus on football, making sure that I’m putting the best product out there, having the best ability — because I thrive off the energy. I thrive off the energy of the fans. I thrive off the energy of the community. I thrive off of all that stuff. Looking back at my history at Clemson and with the Houston Texans organization, I was a big community guy, big city guy, big fan guy during the games.”
Let’s cut in here. Why are we circling back to being a big fan guy? Shouldn’t Watson's goal be to separate himself from being obsessed with what the fans think?
It’s hard to believe that he went back to thriving off the fans' energy, as if trying to coach them up on how to react during games. That piece of his commentary widely missed the mark.
But there was more, starting with that same word:
“So, again, my emotions got the best of me. I’m human. I take full responsibility of that, and just moving forward I just want to make sure I put the best product [on the field] for the team, for the organization, and for this city so we can put a lot of wins [on the board] and make sure we all celebrate and put Cleveland on the map. That’s why I put the helmet on my head, and the uniform on my body, is to go out there and make sure that I put my best foot forward. That’s one of the reasons why I chose this city, is to come and have a lot of wins with this community, with this city, and make sure that we are on the right track so we can have a lot of celebrations and excitement to go each and every Sunday.”
Again, Watson is saying way too much here, and he continues to circle back and repeat himself. He keeps harping on the wrong message here, stating he’s hoping to have more “celebrations” with fans going forward. That’s just a passive-aggressive way of showing his true feelings on the fans’ decision not to cheer his return to action on Saturday.
He’s saying things, but it doesn’t come across like he believes the words that are coming out of his mouth.
Here’s how he closed his opening statement:
"So, again, moving forward, I just want to make sure that I can give the city something to think about in the first two games, and when we come back home that we have something to cheer about and we can celebrate and go do what we want to do, and that’s achieve the ultimate goal and go win and be a champion.”
This was the first part of Watson’s comments that sounded like a challenge to himself, so at least he got there in the end. He should definitely be vowing to prove something against Jacksonville and Tampa Bay to start the season so maybe the reception will be better during the Week 3 home opener against Carolina.
It took way too long to get there, though, and Watson has a long way to go to start repairing his relationship with Browns fans. Monday morning wasn’t exactly a strong start.
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