As the Cleveland Browns build to the 2026 season, the team has been making some interesting comments about veteran quarterback Deshaun Watson.
Team owner Jimmy Haslam recently walked back his comments from last offseason, when he called the Watson trade a big swing and a miss. Haslam is now saying Watson could win the starting job this year and turn into a home run. Browns general manager Andrew Berry also recently said that Cleveland isn’t against extending Watson if he plays well.
This is all a bit confusing from the outside looking in, because the Watson experience has been a nightmare for Cleveland. With the quarterback entering the final year of his contract, that nightmare is almost over. However, it looks like the Browns are laying the groundwork to possibly commit to Watson again.
Cleveland is definitely a wild enough franchise to do that, and the team should be taken at its word that Watson will have a straight-up competition with Shedeur Sanders for the starting quarterback job. However, no one should be buying the idea that the quarterback will return to elite status and resurrect his career. With all that Watson has been through, it would take a miracle for him to be a really good quarterback again.
Even with the Browns giving Deshaun Watson a fresh start, fans should have very low expectations
Watson’s biggest competition this offseason won’t be a second-year Shedeur Sanders — it will be two things athletes rarely beat: injuries and inactivity. The last time the veteran quarterback played a full season was in 2020. Since then, he hasn’t even played half of a season in a given year.
Watson sat out all of 2021 in his final year with the Houston Texans, and was suspended for 11 games in 2022, during his first season with the Browns. He played the final six games of the season, and was limited to just six games again in 2023 because of a broken bone in his throwing shoulder. A year later, in 2024, Watson played in seven games before tearing his Achilles. That injury sidelined him for the remainder of 2024 and all of 2025.
So since Watson’s three-straight Pro Bowl seasons from 2018 to 2020, the quarterback has appeared in just 19 games over five years, and sustained significant injuries to his throwing shoulder and Achilles. To make matters even worse, he wasn’t playing good football in the majority of the games that he was on the field. In those 19 games, the Browns had a 9-10 record, and Watson threw for 3,365 passing yards, 19 passing touchdowns, 12 interceptions, 465 rushing yards, and three additional touchdowns.
Simply put, it’s hard to be a competent football player when dealing with injuries. It's also hard to be a competent athlete when you’re not getting reps at your sport. That’s just about competence; dealing with those factors and finding a way to be good is nearly impossible. That’s the reality Watson is facing.
Take away the polarizing nature of Sanders, who Watson will compete with for the starting job, take away the controversy surrounding Watson, and take away everything Cleveland gave up to acquire the quarterback. It all comes down to the reality that Watson hasn’t been a good NFL quarterback since 2020 — six seasons ago. Sports love a miraculous story, and what Watson is being asked to do would certainly be one. If he could accomplish it, it would be a documentary someday. That’s also why fans shouldn’t pay much attention to this possible outcome; it’s a lottery ticket that’s likely going in the trash, instead of a frame.