The Cleveland Browns are officially into year 3 of Deshaun Watson’s fully guaranteed $230m contract, and it has been incredibly disappointing up to this point. Yesterday, the Browns got wrecked by the Cowboys in a week one blowout, and Watson appeared worse than ever in an atrocious offensive performance. The Browns lost 33–17. Watson finished with 169 yards passing on 45 passing attempts, 1 TD and 2 interceptions, and a dreadful QBR of 9.4. Not what you want from a $230m man. The offensive line performed poorly as well, so it all isn’t Watson’s fault. But he still had clean pockets where he made poor passes as well.
So the question every single Browns fan wants an answer to is this: Will Deshaun Watson ever knock off the rust and regain his Pro Bowl form? That remains to be seen, but in my opinion, I don’t think we will ever see an elite Deshaun Watson again. What’s frustrating is the Browns don’t even need him to be elite. He just needs to be serviceable and/or above average. He can’t even provide that right now.
There are a few noticeable issues with Watson at this point in his career. One is that he has virtually no feel for medium or deep ball passes. Against the Cowboys, any pass over 10 yards was a major overthrow or just simply inaccurate. The other issue is that he just has never looked comfortable in a Browns uniform. The marriage between him and Stefanski’s offense has yet to look right in 3 years, where with Joe Flacco in 2023 and even Baker Mayfield in 2020, it functioned way more efficiently. Watson appears to have issues reading defenses and he is way too quick to bail out of the pocket.
The loss to the Cowboys was brutal, but it is only one game. Watson can still turn it around and perform better in 2024. It is possible, for sure. But my advice to Browns fans is to not get your hopes up. The eyeball test alone points to him simply being washed at this point. We will see how they bounce back, but if this season as a whole is similar to this Cowboys performance, the Browns will have major questions with Watson moving forward.
