The Cleveland Browns knew what they were doing when they traded for quarterback Deshaun Watson last year. Now, that doesn’t mean that what they were doing was a good or smart thing to do. At least on the football field, the jury is still out on that. But it should be acknowledged that they recognized they were making a long-term investment, one that wouldn’t really start to pay dividends earlier than year two.
Well, the second season of Watson’s contract is here now. They’re already paying the piper, so it’s time for the piper to step up. And according to his teammates’ observations through the Browns’ spring practices, that’s exactly what he’s been doing.
Or, “My boy is slinging that s—“, as tight end David Njoku put it, quoted by Zac Jackson in an article for The Athletic earlier this month. Those remarks came following a practice in which he hauled in a touchdown pass from Watson during a red-zone drill in 7-on-7 work.
“He’s locked in. The energy is there. So far, I think every single ball he’s thrown was precise, on the money”, he elaborated. “So it excites me as well as the rest of the team, the offense. We’re all excited. He looks really good. He’s been very accurate the past two days. Very impressive”.
A 2017 first-round draft pick, Watson’s career got off to a prolific start, with three straight Pro Bowls in years two through four. In all likelihood he would have been a Pro Bowler as a rookie, or at least the offensive rookie of the year, had he not gotten hurt. He threw 19 touchdown passes in seven games.
To his credit, he took the Houston Texans to the playoffs in back-to-back years in 2018 and 2019, notching one win in the latter season during the playoffs. The organization as a whole was in freefall in 2020, and frankly 2021 as well, a season during which Watson was inactive all year amid trade requests. Even J.J. Watt left.
One of the all-time most enormous trade assets in the history of the game, he instantly became a hot commodity, which hardly cooled even amid dozens of emerging sexual misconduct allegations. All teams waited to hear was that he was not likely to face any criminal charges stemming from the allegations, even knowing that it would still likely result in a significant league suspension.
Which is why Watson only played in the final six games of the 2022 season for the Browns, and why they pretty much accepted it as a mulligan. It is this year in which the real meat of the deal comes up. He now has a full offseason, a full season, knowing that he will actually be on the field in week one.
Also benefitting from being in his second year in the system and working with some of the same guys—like Njoku—for the second consecutive offseason, Cleveland really expects to have the Deshaun Watson of his Texans heyday on the field this year. And everybody involved, including Watson himself, seems to think that’s exactly what they’re going to get.
