Cleveland Browns QB Deshaun Watson is so unpopular—how unpopular is he?—that even the owner of the team he plays for publicly said they made a mistake on him. The Browns gave up three first-round picks and $230 million guaranteed, and they are still stuck with him for now. Because of that fully guaranteed contract, they still owe him $92 million over the next two years.
Even while recovering from yet another major injury, though, Watson is preparing for the comeback. He posted a video to Instagram recently, talking about his journey, where he’s been, and where he wants to be.
“You don’t have anything to lose, and I feel like that’s where I’m at right now”, Watson said. “Everyone is doubting me. Everyone don’t believe in me. Everyone don’t think that I can get back to where I was. But I know, and I believe that the work that I put in, I know I’m gonna be way better than before”.
Deshaun Watson has been worse than before for a few years already. Earlier in his career, he was a perennial Pro Bowler. Now he is among the worst quarterbacks in the league, whenever his body can bring itself to complete a game.
The Browns have gotten 19 games out of Deshaun Watson over the past three seasons. In those games, he is 9-10, throwing for 19 touchdowns to 12 interceptions with 11 fumbles. He has had only one game-winning drive since his Houston Texans days, his numbers down across the board.
In his first season with the Browns, Watson served an 11-game suspension for sexual misconduct during therapeutic massages. The following two seasons, he has played in just 13 games combined due to injuries. Last season, he tore his Achilles—and then aggravated it.
While he may be preparing for his return, there is no guaranteed that he even plays this season. The Browns will decide if Watson ever plays, of course, but so will his body. He certainly won’t be healthy enough to play at the start of the year, but the team is moving on either way, or so it seems.
“I’m prepared, and I think before I wasn’t prepared because I was kind of going with the flow of how the world was seeing me”, Watson said. “But when you get knocked down to the ground and you’ve got to stand back up and walk to the ring, that brings out another fire, another challenge, another grit that you have inside”.
He went on to say that he has learned not to take comments personally. While he didn’t mention it in this video, Deshaun Watson has always maintained his innocence. Dozens of massage therapists accused him of inappropriate behavior. That was enough for the NFL to suspend him for 11 games, which was originally a full season. As long as he is doing it his way, he said regarding his next steps, “I can live with that”.
And I think most Browns fans, indeed NFL fans, can live with never seeing Watson on the field again.
