“Deshaun Watson stinks at football. Deshaun Watson sunk the franchise. The franchise has been driving down the wrong road for five years and refuses to turn around. This is going to fail, probably miserably, and in a hurry. And even if it’s a more gentle, prolonged, and occasionally bright process, it’s not going to lead to anything.”
This is not a paid advertisement, but for fans of the Cleveland Browns who could use a good vent session following Monday’s bonkers Deshaun Watson news, the Zac Jackson and Friends pod can be a therapeutic 20 minutes on most mornings.
Especially his latest episode on the Browns inexplicably naming Watson their starting quarterback for the 2026 season.
Jackson covers the Browns beat for The Athletic, and his podcast allows him to give fans an unfiltered peek behind the curtains of what’s going on with the team. For this 2026 version, there’s a lot going on, and Jackson has been warning fans about Watson ever since the veteran QB was first in line during spring workouts.
On Monday night, Jackson got a chance to empty the bucket. He did not disappoint.
“The disdain that this organization over the last six, eight hours has shown for its fan base, and the disconnect, I guess, with reality that it’s shown for six, eight months — because for this to even be justified a little bit and work a little bit in terms of advancing the Cleveland Browns forward, this broken Deshaun Watson would have to play at such a level that has previously been unattainable by him. This is the worst trade in history. They continue to double and quadruple down on it. This is a broken player who showed you he’s detached from the city, from the franchise, from reality.
And by the way, he stinks at football. He absolutely STINKS at football. He can’t process. He has not one trait that challenges NFL defenses. He will go out and throw a lot of 8-yard out passes and they will run some play-action stuff, some bootleg stuff and try to protect him. And they will fail. And this will fail. And everybody knows it.”
Zac Jackson's 'he can't play anymore' take makes the Browns' Deshaun Watson decision even more embarrassing
The most telling part of Jackson’s always candid commentary on Watson and the Browns is that it’s impossible to argue with anything he’s saying. It may come off like a victory lap, but it’s undeniable that this 2026 version of Watson is a shell of his former self who is also completely checked out mentally.
Watson’s rambling “apology” to Browns fans before Monday’s practice fooled no one. He willingly put his feelings on the fan base on blast while positioning his final year in Cleveland as a Watson-against-the-world type of mentality. All over some boo-birds during a preseason game where he played over a quarter and posted a passer rating of 14.6.
Jackson’s point about Watson’s physical limitations are also impossible to deny, as Watson hasn't come close to passing the eye test. He looked OK in preseason Game 1 running with the starters against mostly Bears backups, especially on scripted plays and clear first-read throws. But as the Browns started subbing out personnel and asked Watson to actually play quarterback and make things happen, he couldn’t.
In his final half of preseason action, the second quarter against the Bears and the third quarter against the Bills, Watson went 8 for 18 passing for 60 yards, averaging 3.33 yards per attempt. He didn’t throw a touchdown pass but did have one strip-sack fumble and an interception. His QB rating over that stretch was 29.86.
Head coach Todd Monken and Browns’ leadership still settled on Watson being the right choice to lead their young roster into Week 1 of the regular season.
As Jackson said on the pod, Watson may have slightly outplayed Shedeur Sanders over the past three weeks of training camp, including the joint practice with the Bills, but the two quarterbacks were close enough that Watson’s press conference blunder should have been the final straw.
The Browns just can’t seem to help themselves under Jimmy Haslam’s watch. They actively seem to choose the most embarrassing route every time, and it’s a major sign of disrespect to one of the NFL’s most loyal and passionate fan bases.
“Saturday was just the inevitable result of putting this guy in this position — and you’ve known for months that you were going to play him and you still put him out there in the third quarter to get booed and still put him on the podium after the game to do that s— where he showed you the truth,” Jackson said of Watson. “He’s not right. He’s not right physically. He’s not right mentally. He can’t play football anymore... and there’s overwhelming piles of evidence.
[But they still made] this conscious decision to roll Deshaun Watson back out there in this window, under these circumstances, after he went up to that podium, made a plea for help, and used the words ‘that fan base’ and then admitted that he doesn’t know if he can deal with the negativity. ... He certainly has no chance to succeed. None whatsoever.
Ladies and gentlemen, these are the Cleveland Browns. It’s maddening. I don’t know what else to say.”
Again, if you’re a Browns fan who enjoys hot and often critical takes about your team that are firmly rooted in reality, Zac Jackson and Friends is an excellent addition to your podcast playlist. Not everyone will agree with Jackson’s takes, but he attends every practice and press conference and unapologetically tells it like it is.
Browns fans were hoping to have the chance to clap back at Jackson and call him an old, cold-hearted curmudgeon who has been overreacting to the Watson storyline for months. Unfortunately, they didn't get that chance. Monday's victory lap was well deserved.
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