The Cleveland Browns season is about as good as over. It was yet another year the team didn’t play as well as they hoped or expected to. There have been a few issues for the Browns throughout the season, but the quarterback play has again been the biggest of them all.
Deshaun Watson, who had surgery to repair his ruptured right Achilles in October, hasn’t been the answer. For once, during Watson’s time with the Browns, general manager Andrew Berry was noncommittal about the future of the quarterback position moving forward.
“Really our focus with Deshaun, I would say for any player with a season-ending injury and a major injury, is first and foremost and to make sure that he gets healthy from the Achilles injury,” Berry said in November, according to Daniel Oyefusi of ESPN. “Everything else, we’ll deal with at a later moment.”
The issue for the Browns continues to be getting rid of Watson. There isn’t a realistic path to trade or cut him without having to eat much of his massive contract. But, there could be eventually, depending on what the Atlanta Falcons do with former Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins.
Could the Browns Land Cousins?
If there’s any path to finding a replacement for Watson for the Cleveland Browns, they’ll either need to trade for a quarterback or hope someone like Cousins gets released.
Cousins was benched earlier in December and seems to be a prime candidate to be traded or released. There might be a desperate team out there willing to pay him $27.5 million in 2025, but that won’t be the Browns. It isn’t realistic with Watson on the roster.
Despite the difficulties, Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports believes the Browns’ best option is Cousins, adding what would have to happen for Cleveland.
“Frankly, this is the most difficult part of the setup. I think Penix will play well enough to make Cousins obsolete in Atlanta; I think Cousins will force the Falcons to release him; and I think if the Browns’ braintrust was being brutally honest, it would admit it’s time to move on from Watson as the starter. But convincing Cousins that Cleveland is his best destination … that’s going to be a tough sell.
“First and foremost, because Watson will still be on the team, which will make for a very awkward quarterback room. Second, because this iteration of the Browns is arguably not as good as the 2023 team that went to the playoffs with Joe Flacco. And finally, Cousins will likely have options — especially with the Falcons paying him $27.5 million in 2025 and being able to play for a veteran minimum salary for another team,” Robinson wrote on December 18.
Things Could Get Tricky With Cousins
The idea of landing Cousins is intriguing. The Cleveland Browns need a better quarterback than Watson, but there are also concerns about Cousins being that option. He didn’t look great coming off his own Achilles injury, and there’s a chance he ends up just as bad as Watson in a Browns uniform.
However, if he could be had for a league minimum, there wouldn’t be a better option available, barring anything drastic happening.
The Atlanta Falcons could look to trade him and even eat most of his salary, which then would allow the Browns to possibly get involved if they get creative. But there will be other teams that need a quarterback, and Cousins could be who they want.
However, Jeff Howe of The Athletic wrote that teams might be “content to wait” for him to be released.
“If the Falcons want to trade Cousins, executives around the league believe they would have to consume a chunk of his contract to get anything of substance. And because Cousins’ contract has offset language, meaning the Falcons would have to pay the balance of his 2025 guaranteed money if Cousins were released, teams could be perfectly content to wait.
“Essentially, if Cousins is released, a team could sign him for the veteran minimum while he collects the remaining $27.5 million from Atlanta,” Howe wrote on December 24.
A lot has to happen, but the Browns will need to hope they can land Cousins for a cheap price, unless they have another option.
Comments
Former Vikings QB Named Potential Browns’Deshaun Watson Replacement