Cleveland’s trade for Deshaun Watson will go down as one of the worst deals in NFL history.
But Browns head coach Todd Monken isn’t ready to give up on the quarterback completing a Hail Mary.
In his first game back since suffering a torn Achilles in 2024, Watson still looked well past his prime, as the Browns suffered a 34-10 loss in Jacksonville. The 30-year-old threw an interception on the first possession of the game and failed to lead Cleveland to points until the middle of the third quarter while trailing 31-0. The Browns’ lone touchdown came on a meaningless Watson pass with less than two minutes left in the game.
Watson, who went 1-6 as the starter and led the league’s worst-ranked offense in 2024, finished 16-of-22 for 205 yards — and 38 rushing yards — while getting sacked five times in the blowout.
Watson beat out second-year quarterback Shedeur Sanders for the starting spot in training camp, but the former Texans star is nearly out of time to repair the optics of the 2022 trade that resulted in Cleveland handing him the largest guaranteed contract in NFL history ($230 million). Sunday marked just his 20th game since 2020, when he made the most recent of his three Pro Bowl appearances.
Cleveland’s subpar quarterback room — featuring Sanders, rookie Taylen Green and second-year Dillon Gabriel — is essentially all that is keeping Watson under center for now.
“I’d rather just talk about today, because I haven’t had time to even look at the tape,” Monken said after the loss. “It wasn’t all him. It really wasn’t all him. That’s unfair. Certainly could have called it better, certainly could have played better around him.”
The Browns will be heavy underdogs again next week at Tampa Bay, before playing their home-opener against the Panthers in Week 3.
