Whether Cleveland Browns QB Deshaun Watson is still good at football or not, he has not played as though he is. Making three Pro Bowls and winning the Offensive Rookie of the Year Award in four seasons of play with the Houston Texans, he has played nothing like that since arriving in Cleveland via trade in 2022.
Granted, he’s only played 10 games for them since then, including six games following an 11-game suspension, and this year he’s been dealing with injuries and has missed multiple games. But he is being questioned beyond just his football abilities. Now his desire to play is being questioned, including by a former Browns quarterback.
Battling a shoulder injury, there have been times over the past month where he has not played even if he has been cleared to do so. In Sunday’s game, head coach Kevin Stefanski made the decision to keep Watson out of the game even after quickly clearing the concussion protocol.
“Everyone that has a medical opinion just clears him, pretty much”, Brady Quinn said on the 2 Pros and a Cup of Joe radio show on ESPN Radio. “You get a kid who gets a trust fund, $230 million. It’s like, ‘Hey, you wanna go out and get a job?’. He’s like, ‘Not really. I’ve got $230 million coming. I’m good”.
“That’s what it kind of feels like”, he added, saying that it was also human nature, referring to the fully guaranteed five-year contract the Browns gave him as a reduction in incentive for him to put in the effort to maximize his abilities.
Co-host LaVar Arrington said that the Browns are going to make a run with backup P.J. Walker playing quarterback, poking fun at Watson’s ineffectiveness. Quinn interjected that “the trust fund baby’s just chilling” on the bench.
In 10 games as Cleveland’s quarterback, Watson has completed just 165-of-277 pass attempts for 1,785 yards with 11 touchdowns to 8 interceptions. He is averaging just 6.4 yards per pass attempt with a 79.5 quarterback rating and 258 yards rushing during that time with two rushing touchdowns.
That’s not exactly worth over $40 million per season, let alone guaranteeing that amount over a five-year period. And his numbers this year are no better than what he was putting up in 2022 having missed 12 weeks due to suspension on a team he had just to play with up to that point.
Quinn questioned whether he was ever a top-five quarterback, even at the height of his play in Houston, and “now you’ve incentivized him not to play”. He called the situation “incredibly frustrating as a Browns fan” and as a former Browns player as well.
Watson’s personal quarterback coach shot back at him on Twitter after the radio segment went viral, and Quinn did not back down. He invited him to talk about it in person any time. “How about we massage this conversation and get it to a happy ending? Does that sound satisfactory?”, he shot back.
