The Cleveland Browns played a preseason game against the Buffalo Bills on Saturday, and the final score was 31-7, which runs their preseason tally to 17 points scored and 65 allowed. That’s bad, obviously, but yet, it does not even begin to paint the picture of just how bad the preseason has been for this team to date. That’s because the Browns have been operating throughout this offseason as if Deshaun Watson could be a normal NFL quarterback returning to the field from an injury.
On Saturday, as Watson was booed on his home field in his return from tearing his Achilles tendon, the Browns were smacked with the reminder that there is too much water under the bridge. Watson has been in Cleveland for four years, was given a record-setting contract with $233 million completely guaranteed, and played 19 underwhelming games in that entire tenure. There is no one more to blame for the abyss in which the Browns have been wandering over the last four (soon to be five) seasons than Watson, and folks in Cleveland just are not willing to forgive and forget.
In his emotional and disastrous press conference on Saturday, Watson–who heard cheers no his home field in October 2024 when he tore his Achilles tendon–showed that he’s not forgiving and forgetting, either.
Deshaun Watson Part of Browns ‘Rancid Past’
We’ll get to what Watson said, but at The Athletic, beat writer Zac Jackson pointed out that what we saw from the Browns, the fans and the quarterback was all very predictable, and could be seen coming from very far away by everyone except the Browns, who must choose between Watson and Shedeur Sanders as their QB1 in the coming days.
The Browns have done well to bring in a long list of young talent in the past two years. But Watson was never going to fit with that bunch.
Jackson wrote: “Saturday reinforced that the Browns have been living in denial. Watson was booed multiple times by the home crowd in the preseason loss to the Buffalo Bills, and he responded in his postgame news conference by taking on the boos and the fans delivering them. … Everyone atop the Browns’ organization are being forced to publicly confront the fact that Watson represents more of this team’s rancid past than anything to do with a future-facing program.”
Deshaun Watson: ‘It’s a Mental Battle Every Day’
It might be different if Watson had played well in the game against Buffalo. He was 5-for-12 passing, for just 36 yards. He threw an interception. Watson would have earned boos even if not for his “rancid” history in Cleveland. He did not see it that way.
Watson called Cleveland fans “disrespectful,” and added, “It has nothing to do with the performance. It’s a little more personal than that.”
Not only that, but Watson admitted something that few pro athletes ever do–the boos, the social media chatter, everything said about him, it all weighs on him mentally.
Said Watson: “I don’t know. It’s a mental battle every day. I feel like I get more love on road games than I do at home games. So, if it is my spot and he does make me the starter, maybe it’s 17 away games, then. I don’t know.”
Can a ‘Heart-to-Heart’ Fix Things for the Browns?
Now, Jackson seemed to concede that the Browns must move on from Watson, in some way. Cutting him would inflict major pain on the team’s payroll books, and that’s why he is still in Cleveland at all. He is untradeable, too. Maybe the franchise would be better off washing its hands of him.
But another Browns beat writer, Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com, writes that maybe some hard conversations with coach Todd Monken could pull Watson and the Browns out of the mess that they’re in.
Writes Cabot: “If Monken wants him to start — and it seemed like he was leaning that way because of Watson’s edge in the game management realm — he’ll need to sit down with Watson on Sunday or Monday and have a heart-to-heart talk with him.”
But the question then would be: Why have these heart-to-hearts not already happened? Why were Watson, Monken and the Browns not better prepared for this? Too much denial, indeed.
Browns Accused of ‘Living in Denial’ With Deshaun Watson Decision