Cleveland Browns

Deshaun Watson will start for the Browns again on Sunday when they play Baker Mayfield and the Buccaneers.

Fortunately for Watson — who was vociferously booed by Cleveland fans during the preseason — the start will come on the road.

But Week 3 looms, which will be the Browns’ home opener against the Panthers.

Does Watson feel like he has to put up a solid performance this week to build up some goodwill with the fanbase?

“No, I think personally, I think all that is for the media,” Watson said in his Wednesday press conference. “I think the media has this expectation that I’m supposed to throw [for] 400 yards and five touchdowns every week. So, until that happens, I guess it’s going to be the same situation.

“Again, my job is to make sure I’m operating well so we can try to get a win and keep moving forward from there.”

And what did Watson see on film from the Week 1 loss to the Jaguars?

“Finding completions, operating well. That’s pretty much it,” Watson said of his performance. “Had one turnover, a couple — that one sack-fumble, have to protect the ball, but we recovered it. That’s pretty much it, for real. We just didn’t have opportunities in the red zone to get points. Only six incompletions — one of them was a pick, one of them was the end of the game, end of the half. Tipped ball. Two missed throws, and then a throwaway.”

It’s hard to know what Watson means by operating well, as the offense finished with multiple pre-snap penalties and had to resort to a timeout to avoid more.

It’s also worth noting that when it comes to expectations for Watson, they are quite low — whether it’s from the media or the fanbase. That’s part of why Cleveland’s fanbase is so frustrated, because the perception based on his performance over several years is that he gives the club little chance to win.

Watson has not yet thrown for even 300 yards since joining the Browns. It’s unlikely Week 2 will be the first time that happens.

The Browns have made a roster move with running back/returner Dylan Sampson.

Cleveland has placed Sampson on injured reserve, after it was reported earlier in the day that he is expected to miss “significant time.”

Sampson, a fourth-round pick in 2025, returned a pair of kicks on Sunday before he exited with a knee injury. Last season, Sampson rushed for 175 yards and caught 33 passes for 271 yards with a pair of touchdowns.

As a corresponding move, the Browns signed running back Jaleel McLaughlin to the 53-man roster.

Additionally, Cleveland signed running back Eric Gray, offensive tackle Obinna Eze, punter Wes Pahl, and offensive tackle Xavier Truss to the practice squad and released cornerback D’Angelo Ross and defensive tackle Chris Williams from the practice squad.

Browns running back Dylan Sampson left Sunday’s loss to the Jaguars after hurting his knee in the first quarter and it will reportedly be some time before he’s back in the lineup.

Head coach Todd Monken said on Monday that Sampson was still being evaluated, but Jeremy Fowler of ESPN reports that he is expected to miss significant time.

Sampson returned two kickoffs before leaving the loss to Jacksonville. He is the No. 2 back behind Quinshon Judkins on the depth chart, but the Browns only played one offensive series prior to his injury.

Sampson was a fourth-round pick last year and ran 65 times for 175 yards as a rookie. He also caught 33 passes for 271 yards and two touchdowns.

Raheim Sanders is the only other back behind Judkins on the 53-man roster. Former Bronco Jaleel McLaughlin is on the practice squad.

During the pregame show for Sunday night’s matchup between the Cowboys and Giants, new NBC analyst Mike Tomlin quoted one of his former players when talking about Cleveland’s ugly 34-10 loss to Jacksonville.

“In the words of my friend JuJu Smith-Schuster,” Tomlin said, “the Browns is the Browns.”

Smith-Schuster made those words famous back in 2020, ironically before the Browns then pounded the Tomlin-led Steelers in the wild card round. But the saying has stuck in part because the Browns have had just one winning season since — and even that ended with an ugly postseason loss.

Asked about Tomlin’s comments in his Monday video conference, first-year head coach Todd Monken seemed to take some exception to them.

“Well, again, everybody’s afforded their opinions. That’s what you do when you go from coaching to television,” Monken said. “We have to own that. We have to own that. We didn’t play very well. I don’t see it that way, Browns being Browns. I don’t see it that way. Every week is different, every team is different. We just didn’t play well. That’s one week. That’s not Browns being Browns, that’s Browns being poorly on one week.

“So, again, everybody’s afforded their opinion. And the only way to change people’s opinion is to play better. That’s a fact. We don’t want to be considered an also-ran, then we have to play better. We have to coach better, and we have to play better.”

At this point, Monken is right — the only way the Browns can change their perception is by winning. We’ll see if they can at least be competitive against the Buccaneers on Sunday, though that will be unlikely if Deshaun Watson does not play any better at quarterback.

If you thought the Browns would stop playing Deshaun Watson after their Week 1 stinker — why?

Head coach Todd Monken said in his Monday video conference that Watson is set to start the team’s Week 2 matchup with the Buccaneers in Tampa on Sunday.

Watson finished Sunday’s 34-10 loss 16-of-22 for 205 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Forty-six of those yards came on that TD pass to Denzel Boston, which came with 1:52 left in the fourth quarter.

“It’s only been two weeks that he’s gotten all the reps,” Monken said. “And there were some really good things on film — some things that you can build on. And there were some others that — you know, operationally, we’ve got to get better at. There’s concepts that, there’s only so many looks you get from week to week, be it red zone concepts, third-down concepts.

“I did think that when he had time, when he understood the concepts, he didn’t play tentative, that he let it rip. Even the touchdown at the end, sure that was garbage time, but that was on their [No.] 1 corner. That was one of their starters out there. And that was a communication between him and the receiver. So, there were a lot of things to build on. Was it perfect? Of course not, otherwise we wouldn’t have scored as few of points as we did. But I’d like to see how we can build on that. I like his week of practice last week. And I think he’s only going to continue to get better.”

Monken said there wasn’t much discussion about potentially replacing Watson as QB1 after his Sunday performance.

“No, just confirmed it when I looked at the tape,” Monken said. “We’ve got to play better around him. We’ve got to call it better. And he’s got to play better.

“Our inability to function consistently as an offense was a byproduct of we — coaching and playing.”

While Watson threw an interception to end Cleveland’s first drive, Monken said he didn’t feel like the quarterback got tentative when it came to throwing downfield after that play.

“I would say that some of those weren’t called,” Monken said. “[T]here were times where we were trying to push the ball down the field and he did have a missed throw once we moved the pocket one time. But I know right before halftime, he made two great throws that put us in position. And then we got a couple of holding calls that had nothing to do with Deshaun.

“So, without watching the tape, you could say that — you could say, hey, he looked a little tentative there. And it’d be like, no, not really. Really, we just didn’t call certain routes to push it down the field, or we didn’t execute.”

The real issue, according to Monken, is that the club had “too many Browns hurting Browns moments.”

“And then even as we got later in the game, I did not see that one bit — that he was tentative in terms of trying to throw it down the field,” Monken said. “Sure, there’s a couple of times maybe he could’ve pumped it down there. But in my mind, I didn’t see that.”

Maybe we’ll all see something different in Week 2 when Cleveland plays Tampa Bay.

Baker Mayfield’s Sunday afternoon did not go well, with three lost fumbles directly contributing to Tampa Bay’s 33-27 loss to Cincinnati.

After agreeing to a contract extension earlier in the week, Mayfield finished 23-of-28 for 216 yards with no touchdowns, no picks, and the three giveaways.

“This one falls on me,” Mayfield said in his postgame press conference. “I mean, they had, I think, 17 points alone off of my turnovers. Turns out to be a one-score game — six points.”

But the Bengals were just one of two AFC North opponents that the Buccaneers have to begin their 2026 slate.

The next, of course, is the Browns.

“I mean, obviously, there’s history there — there’s no way to go around that,” Mayfield said.

You think?

The Browns infamously decided to move on from Mayfield after the 2021 season and traded for Deshaun Watson as his replacement. While Mayfield has found a home with the Bucs after stints with the Panthers and Rams in 2022, the Browns are still reeling from the aftereffects of that disastrous trade.

While Mayfield is 0-1 against Cleveland, having lost to the team with Carolina in 2022, he now has a unique chance to rub the Browns’ nose in it.

But, at least publicly, he’s not making more of it than what it is.

“It’s the next opponent,” Mayfield said. “Cleveland happens to be the next opponent — our home opener. So, yeah. Have a bad taste in our mouth, looking forward to getting it out.

“It’s still the next one, and that’s the most important one,” Mayfield added. “I’ve said that to you guys over the years — it doesn’t matter who it is, the most important one is the next one. And we’ve got — I’ve got to get some stuff fixed. And we’ve got to move forward.”

If you look at Deshaun Watson’s final numbers from Cleveland’s 34-10 loss to Jacksonville on Sunday, you might be able to talk yourself into some positives.

After all, Watson was 16-of-22 for 205 yards with a touchdown and an interception — good for 9.3 yards per attempt and a 97.7 passer rating.

But if you watched the game, you’d know 46 of those yards came on a garbage-time touchdown to Denzel Boston against the Jaguars’ backups. You would’ve seen Watson fire an interception to end Cleveland’s first drive, almost throw another to end the second, and then get strip-sacked on the third. You would understand that most — if not all — of Jacksonville’s five sacks on Watson happened because he was dropping so far back that the offensive line couldn’t form a cohesive pocket. You might’ve been baffled by how often he was trying to change a call at the line of scrimmage too late in the play clock.

Cleveland’s first drive had gotten off to a solid start, with the team moving the ball before Watson’s interception. After that, the unit was off the rails with no sense of rhythm.

But Watson said postgame that the pick didn’t rattle him.

“No, I mean, bad plays are going to happen all the time,” he said in his press conference. “You look all around the league. Everyone throws interceptions, everyone makes bad plays. You’ve got to give the defense credit. He made a good play on that. Even though I got knocked off my platform a little bit, I thought I got it over him. He reached up and grabbed it. So you’ve got to move on to the next play and try to move forward and try to put something positive on the next drive. And we weren’t able to do that.

“So it didn’t really bundle up my confidence. It’s just — we didn’t get back on track like we wanted to.”

Will the Browns’ dalliance with Watson continue? It seems likely, for at least another week. And so, Watson will lean on his experience in dealing with adversity as the Browns ready to play the Buccaneers.

“Yeah, I mean just keep moving forward, keep stepping forward, keep smiling, regardless of who’s against me or who’s with me,” Watson said. “I think that’s more beneficial for the team in that locker room. I’ve had a lot of support in that locker room after the game telling me to keep my head up, keep pushing forward, keep working. They’re behind me, so that’s always positive to see and hear. Yeah, we just got to keep going.

“The adversity is going to be there. You’ve got to embrace it. That’s the only way — I thought it was going to be gone two years ago, but I guess not. So you just embrace it and keep pushing through until you break that wall through.”

The Browns will be on the road to face Baker Mayfield and the Bucs next Sunday.

Deshaun Watson’s return to the Browns lineup was a thudding disappointment.

The quarterback threw an interception on the first possession of the game and the Browns were shut out for the first half of a 34-10 loss to the Jaguars. Watson finished the day 16-of-22 for 205 yards and also ran six times for 38 yards while being sacked five times over the course of the afternoon. They gained 140 of their 272 yards in the fourth quarter when the game was out of reach.

Head coach Todd Monken was asked after the game if Watson will remain the starter in Tampa next weekend.

“I’d rather just talk about today, because I haven’t had time to even look at the tape. . . . It wasn’t all him,” Monken said. “It really wasn’t all him. That’s unfair. Certainly could have called it better, certainly could have played better around him.”

Week 3 brings the home opener for the Browns and they’ll need to get a lot more from Watson next week for there to be any chance of him being greeted kindly by the team’s fans.

The Jaguars had no trouble spoiling head coach Todd Monken’s debut and quarterback Deshaun Watson’s first game since 2024.

Jacksonville steamrolled Cleveland, 34-10, to open the 2026 season 1-0.

The Jags scored on each of their first four possessions in the first half, taking a 24-0 lead into the break. Quarterback Trevor Lawrence had three touchdown passes in the first 30 minutes, adding another to cap Jacksonville’s first drive of the third quarter for a 31-0 lead.

Lawrence finished 18-of-23 for 245 yards with four touchdowns. With the Jags up big, Nick Mullens came in to relieve Lawrence with 8:12 left in the fourth quarter.

Parker Washington, JaKobi Meyers, Brenton Strange, and rookie Josh Cameron were the recipients of Lawrence’s four TD passes.

Running back Bhayshul Tuten did a nice job toting the rock, finishing the contest with…

Before Lawrence was taken out of the game, the Jaguars were averaging 7.2 yards per play.

On the other side, it started ugly for Watson and continued that way throughout the afternoon. He threw an interception to Foyesade Oluokun to end Cleveland’s opening drive. He threw another near interception that was dropped at the end of the Browns’ second possession. He was then strip-sacked, but recovered the fumble.

Rookie KC Concepcion also had a fumble that led to a Jaguars touchdown. He finished with four receptions for 43 yards, which led Cleveland. He also had three carries for 15 yards.

The positive play from Watson came right at the end of the game, as he fired a 46-yard touchdown pass to rookie Denzel Boston for the first score of the wideout’s career.

The Jaguars have now won nine consecutive regular-season games, dating back to Week 11 of last season. They will be on the road to face the Broncos in Week 2.

At 0-1, Cleveland will be back in Florida next week to face Tampa Bay, a matchup that will see Deshaun Watson face Baker Mayfield — that is, if Watson isn’t replaced by then.

The Jaguars are taking it to the Browns in Todd Monken’s debut as head coach and Deshaun Watson’s return to the starting lineup.

Jacksonville scored on each of its first four possessions and is up 24-0 at halftime.

Quarterback Trevor Lawrence was 13-of-18 for 166 yards with three touchdowns in the first half. Parker Washington, Brenton Strange, and rookie Josh Cameron were the recipients of Lawrence’s scoring strikes.

The Jags outgained the Browns 234-95 in the first half. They have 16 first downs to Cleveland’s five. Jacksonville was also 4-of-6 on third down while Cleveland was 0-of-4.

As bad as Watson was the last time he played in 2024, he might be worse now. The quarterback tossed an interception to linebacker Foyesade Oluokun to end Cleveland’s first possession. He nearly threw another pick to end the Browns’ second drive, but the pass fell incomplete. He was strip-sacked on the third possession, but was able to recover the fumble.

He didn’t get anything positive going until a two-minute drive late in the second quarter, with a 20-yard completion to Jerry Jeudy. But then pre-snap and holding penalties derailed the drive and the Browns came away empty handed.

Watson was 8-of-13 for 75 yards with one interception in the first half. Quinshon Judkins had just 14 yards on five carries.

The Jaguars will receive the second-half kickoff.