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The Cleveland Browns start their 2024 season against the Dallas Cowboys on September 8, an excellent test to see where they stand. After making the playoffs last year, the hope is for the Browns to return this campaign. However, there are questions about them doing so, mainly on whether Deshaun Watson can return to form or not.
Cleveland sent a massive haul to the Houston Texans for Watson and handed him a five-year, $230 million contract. That contract and trade hasn’t gone as planned for the Browns just yet. However, he still believes he can be what he once was. Watson was recently asked if he believed he was still an elite quarterback, giving a simple, four-word answer.
“Of course. No doubt,” Watson said in September, according to ESPN’s Daniel Oyefusi.
When Watson was at his best, which last came in 2020, he threw for 4,823 yards, 33 touchdowns, and seven interceptions.
He’s heard all of the chatter about the Browns’ low expectations, mostly because of his lack of success in recent seasons, but isn’t too worried about them.
“It’s fine with us. It’s perfect,” Watson said on September 4, according to Nick Shook of NFL.com. “We’re just going to go under the radar and work. That’s all we can do.”
Watson Looks to Finally Be Healthy
While Watson has struggled on the field, he’s also spent plenty of time off of it. He served an 11-game suspension for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy and had season-ending shoulder surgery last year.
It’s been a long road for the Cleveland Browns quarterback, and Week 1 will be the first time he plays in a game since he went down with that injury last year.
However, he feels healthy and seems ready to go.
“I challenged myself to get back to this moment right now, and I wanted to make every throw in the spring,” Watson said. “I did that. I was able to make every throw that Dr. [Neal] ElAttrache put out there on the table for me, and I was able to do that before spring broke. And so going into the summer and training camp, everything else was just building the strength and building that endurance with the shoulder.”
Watson ‘Has More Riding’ on This Season Than Any Other Quarterback
Because of what the Cleveland Browns traded for Watson and his contract, he faces more pressure than ever.
After Joe Flacco carried the Browns to the playoffs last season, that pressure grew even larger.
Jeremy Fowler of ESPN wrote that no player “has more riding on the season” than Watson.
“No player on this list above has more riding on the season than the Browns’ Deshaun Watson. It’s not about money — his next three seasons are fully guaranteed — but re-establishing himself as a top guy.
Has he lost his fastball forever? Or does he simply need more time to rediscover it? Four or five years ago, Watson had star power that opponents could feel from the moment he pulled up to the stadium,” Fowler wrote on September 5. “He doesn’t scare teams like that anymore. But if he can regain, say, 90% of what he was, then he can.”
If Watson plays well, the Browns should be in a good position to compete for a Super Bowl. They won games when Flacco gave them average production, so if Watson can be elite, things should be on their side.
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