The Cleveland Browns’ 2024 season began with high hopes. It ends in pieces, a bottomed-out year in which their supposed franchise quarterback struggled, tore his Achilles twice, and a locker room culture that seemingly improved only after Deshaun Watson was removed from its picture.
In a recent feature article for the Athletic, one even Steelers’ fans should read, author Jason Lloyd outlines the core issues in Cleveland’s locker room. They center around Watson and the coaching staff’s relationship with him. An attempt to placate him every step of the way while shielding him from as much criticism as possible.
“But teammates ultimately grew tired of the organization catering to an ineffective quarterback, and he never really fit in Cleveland,” Lloyd wrote. ‘He received at least one death threat.”
Watson was a controversial blockbuster deal, the Browns selling everything to acquire him from the Houston Texans. Three first-round picks and a $230 million fully guaranteed contract for a player who had sat out the year before and was facing an undetermined but lengthy suspension for sexual assault and harassment allegations.
Once eligible to play, Watson never looked like the top-five quarterback he was in Houston. Lloyd’s article suggests the offense head coach Kevin Stefanski and Watson wanted to run couldn’t have been more different.
“Watson never embraced Stefanski’s system. He wanted to be in shotgun, and Stefanski wanted him under center to make the play-action component more effective.”
As his struggles continued, criticism mounted. Especially as other passers had success. After Watson was shut down with a 2023 shoulder injury, Joe Flacco came off the couch to lead the Browns into the playoffs looking more impressive than Watson.
With so much invested, the team bent over backwards to make Watson happy. At his behest, they fired offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt and hired Ken Dorsey. Per Lloyd, that move cost them highly-acclaimed offensive line coach Bill Callahan who followed his son Brian to Tennessee after Van Pelt was canned.
Under a new coaching staff, Watson’s 2024 didn’t improve. In seven starts before his injury, he threw just five touchdowns and was sacked a whopping 33 times. Cleveland failed to reach 20 points in any of his appearances and won just one of their first seven games, derailing a season in which internal expectations put them back in the postseason. Watson didn’t play within the system, per Lloyd, contributing to the offense’s negativity.
“He consistently missed getting proper depth in the pocket — when he was supposed to drop 8 yards, he was only getting 6, according to two players with knowledge of the Browns’ offensive schemes. Watson continually ran into his linemen on sacks because he was standing in places they didn’t expect him to be.”
The article paints Stefanski as weak and complicit, failing to correct Watson’s mistakes in front of the team.
“According to multiple players, those mistakes weren’t pointed out in film sessions, frustrating at least a few veterans who believed Stefanski wouldn’t criticize Watson in front of the team. When Jameis Winston replaced Watson after he tore his Achilles in October, players said Stefanski returned to pointing out the quarterback’s mistakes in film sessions.”
Watson tore his Achilles in Week 7 and was lost for the season. Under Winston, the team didn’t do much more winning but the offense improved and looked functional, Winston willing and able to push the ball downfield and create big plays. Wide receiver Jerry Jeudy flourished and finished with a career year.
The article notes Watson’s season was full of off-field storylines. A June death threat from an unnamed source never found. The death of his father and college teammate. Another sexual assault lawsuit, one settled that didn’t result in additional league punishment.
Already on his way out of a starting job, Watson re-tore his Achilles months after the original injury. The team seemed caught off-guard, only discovering it as Watson came in for an exit physical and complaining of ankle pain. His road to recovery restarted and he’s in danger of missing the entire 2025 season. Stuck with his contract, the Browns will look to the draft to find a rookie quarterback on a manageable contract and start anew.
Stefanski and GM Andrew Berry survived 2024 but will enter 2025 with warm seats. Another failed season without a playoff appearance could cost both of them their jobs. A path that began with ownership selling everything to land Watson. A deal that included their soul.
