The Browns have played exactly one (1) meaningful football game, and the only thing anyone wants to talk about – already – is when Deshaun Watson is going to get benched. It's not entirely unfair, either – Watson's been one of the worst starting quarterbacks in football over the last calendar year, and his Week 1 performance against the Cowboys (24-45, 169 yards, one touchdown, two interceptions, 51.1 QB Rating) was the type of game that gets you benched.
Of course, things are a little different when you're guaranteed over $70 per season over the next two years. The Browns are somewhat stuck between a rock and a hard place – Watson's very obviously not worth the money he's getting (for a variety of reasons), but it's also still hard to justify paying that much for a guy who's not even on the roster. It wouldn't be surprising to see the Browns get there eventually, but Week 2 feels a bit early for that.
All that being said, it seems more like when, not if, that does eventually happen. And while talking about Watson's situation on their latest podcast, The Athletic's Dianna Russini and Chase Daniel gave a little hint into what they're hearing regarding his job security.
The Browns don't sound close to benching Deshaun Watson ... yet
It's now Year 3 of Deshaun Watson in Cleveland.
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) September 10, 2024
Should panic buttons be pressed?@DMRussini and @ChaseDaniel debate on Scoop City.
Watch: https://t.co/erJUiqNJZI pic.twitter.com/EGmEJ7aTG9
"Look, I can tell you in that building, the mood is not panicked," Russini said. "David Njoku was a guest on our show, and he talked all about how he thinks Deshaun Watson is elite. And he could have easily just said to us, 'he's good.' He didn't have to use the word elite. He said elite ... The ownership wants this to work. They've given the Cleveland Browns everything they could possibly use, and need, to develop him and to make this work. It's just going to come down to whether or not there's still potential there."
As far as concrete reporting goes, this is, uh, not that. But it's a nice little glimpse into what the highest levels of the organization are thinking, and turns out they're still trying to be patient with the QB they traded huge amounts of draft capital for and then gave record amounts of guaranteed money to.
It's probably not all that surprising to see the Browns let it be known that they're still patient after only one week. If this keeps up, however, I imagine Russini and Daniel's tone changes, and quick.