Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam may regret the Deshaun Watson trade, but with the veteran quarterback progressing well from his injury, he may have to make a hard decision about who to play this year. Still under contract for the next two years, Watson’s play alone hasn’t justified his starting status. He is returning from a torn Achilles, an injury he then aggravated, most anticipating he would not play in 2025.
Watson never anticipated that, however, and indeed made a video about it. He insisted that he will return “way better than before”, even if the Browns want him to go away. But that’s hard to achieve when you sign someone to a fully guaranteed contract, isn’t it, Jimmy?
There is actually a financial and cap incentive for Haslam and the Browns if Deshaun Watson does not play. But Watson isn’t really a guy they can just stash on the Physically Unable to Perform list. He has too much notoriety and will obviously file a grievance if the team refuses to clear him when healthy.
And it appears that issue may very well arise, because Watson seems to be working his way back. Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com reports that he has shed his walking boot and is throwing to wide receivers. “Deshaun Watson continues to make excellent progress in his comeback bid at CrossCountry Mortgage Campus”, she wrote.
Meanwhile, the Browns aim to hold a fair, four-way competition to determine their starting quarterback. They traded for Kenny Pickett and signed Joe Flacco, then drafted Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders. Already with too many quarterbacks to keep on the roster, they may also have to figure out how to handle a healthy Deshaun Watson.
The thing is, even though they have a financial obligation to pay him, the Browns have no obligation to play Watson. If they don’t feel he gives them their best chance of winning, he can sit on the bench all he likes. And I think there is a very real chance that, if he is indeed healthy by September, we could see him watching from the sidelines.
Still, even if Watson is making “excellent” progress from aggravating a torn Achilles, the timeline is questionable. He aggravated his injury in January, and such injuries typically take nine months to heal. That would place us several weeks into the regular season, though stranger things have happened.
