The Cleveland Browns traded three first-round draft picks, among other resources, and gave former Deshaun Watson a five-year, $230 million contract in order to acquire the former Houston Texans quarterback via trade last year. Then they got all of six games out of him at the end of the year, for a very specific and important reason.
The former Pro Bowler was serving an 11-game suspension after dozens of women sued him of sexual misconduct or worse after hiring them privately as massage therapists while a member of the Texans. He settled out of court with nearly all of them, eventually, but the league weighed a few choice examples in considering his discipline. The only reason it was not an indefinite suspension was because an arbitrator determined that there was not proper precedent previously set by the NFL to justify that kind of discipline for the infractions in question.
The subject, for many preferably old news by now, is relevant today because it continues to impact the Browns moving forward—on the field. Because of the time lost a year ago, months’ worth of critical in-game experience, the unit is behind where it would otherwise be now, and they are still learning each other as a result.
“Even when he was here for last year’s training camp, you take 10, 11 weeks off in the season, you work with another guy like Jacoby [Brissett], it’s a different world for him”, Pro Bowl guard Joel Bitonio told Chris Easterling of the Akron Beacon Journal. “So I think there’s time. I think timing with the receivers, all that stuff adds into protection and stuff”.
For a team returning all five starters along the offensive line, it is not insignificant that they are still trying to figure out how to block for Watson, who though a more athletic quarterback is not the typical runner that we have come to expect today, rather using his mobility to extend plays.
“We just got to stay in front of our man, and as simple as that may sound we have to go and block for a long time because we know Deshaun can make big plays late”, Browns assistant offensive line coach Scott Peters told Easterling. “Just being able to block forever and understand that there’s that moment when if he leaves the pocket that we got to move our feet, we can’t get caught where your hands are outside the frame”.
In his six games last season, Watson completed 99 out of 170 pass attempts for 1,102 yards with seven touchdowns to five interceptions. He was also sacked 20 times, with a sack rate north of 10 percent, and posted an adjusted net yards per attempt of just 4.79. For context, his previous career low was 6.63. He would have ranked 31st in the NFL if he played enough to quality—though admittedly he would have been just ahead of the Steelers’ Kenny Pickett, whose adjusted net yards per pass attempt was 4.7. Only Carson Wentz and Justin Fields posted lower numbers.
