Deshaun Watson's homecoming ended just like everyone but the front office and coaching staff knew it would. He was booed for the whole time he was out on the field, and his subpar play did little to appease the rabid crowd.
Saturday's preseason game against the Buffalo Bills marked Watson's first home game since his season-ending injury in 2024. Notably, some fans even cheered when he fell with what was clearly a serious ailment, and the fans haven't necessarily hidden their true feelings about No. 4. Whether justified or not, the reaction Saturday was expected and predictable.
Following the game, Watson poured more gasoline on the fire by claiming the attacks were "personal" and unrelated to his performance. However, head coach Todd Monken begged to differ, and he had one rather simple solution to his problem.
Don't want to get booed? Then play well.
"I know you’ve asked him, hey, how it feels to get booed?’ It’s a pretty easy question, it sucks," Monken said. "I don’t want to get booed. It comes with the territory. You don’t want to get booed? Let’s play good football. Let’s play good at quarterback, on offense and as a team, and then you won’t have to worry about all that, because it can turn just like that. Win, play good football, and everybody will be fine. That’s just part of it. I told him, ‘You good? We’re good.’ That’s part of what we do.”
For Todd Monken, the solution is simple: play better football
Watson had already ruffled some feathers before the game, claiming that he didn't care whether he was booed at home. Either something changed, or he didn't know how much he actually cared. Otherwise, he wouldn't have tried to make everything worse with his postgame comments.
"I thought being away for two years and working myself back from two Achilles injuries and putting the time in and being around the facility, being around the city, doing charity work in the city, supporting the Cleveland Browns, hanging out with fans whenever I do see them, being honest, being the type of person that I know I am and the character would help," Watson said.
"And I guess it hasn't. So that's why I say it's personal. So it is what it is. People have their own opinions. There's only so much you can do to change that. So at the end of the day, I just have to continue to just work on it and strive to be better mentally moving forward."
Watson conveniently seems to ignore the fact that, even when healthy, he has been statistically one of the worst quarterbacks in the league by every measure. He also seems to forget that he served a lengthy NFL suspension due to very serious accusations.
People clearly haven't forgotten.
Sports always give star athletes a chance at redemption. Perhaps undeservingly, the fans often ignore all their questionable actions off the field when they can deliver on it. Watson's reputation is tarnished, and the tape and numbers have been worse.
So, yeah, it might be personal, but it's also 100 percent performance-related.
Watson has been in Cleveland since March of 2022, and he's only played in 19 games, posting a 9-10 record. He's got 3,365 yards, 19 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions while completing 61.2 percent of his passes and never playing more than seven games or passing for 1,500 yards in a season.
Watson claimed that working his rear end off and giving back to the community should've bought him some grace with the fans, as if he wasn't getting paid dozens of millions of dollars to work out at the facility. What else was he going to do with all that free time? That's what all injured athletes do, so why should this particular case be so special?
Monken said it best. It is that simple. If you want to buy some goodwill with the fans, you just have to play good football. And if you don't, the last thing you should want to do is play the victim card.
Watson isn't to blame for getting a fully guaranteed, $230 million contract or for getting hurt. Everything in between, however, has been entirely on him, and he should at least stop to think why one of the most loyal, caring, and unconditional fan bases in sports has turned its back on him.
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