Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson said he is “still in disbelief” about learning he needs to have season-ending surgery on his right shoulder at a Wednesday press conference.
Watson spoke shortly after the Browns announced that he will miss the rest of the year because of a displaced fracture to the glenoid in his right shoulder. Watson previously missed time with a rotator cuff contusion in the same shoulder and he said he “kind of recognized something was wrong” with the shoulder in the first quarter of last Sunday’s win over the Ravens.
Watson said the injury is “very painful” and made it hard to throw a football, but that he tried to push through until doctors told him that he couldn’t continue playing through the injury.
“I pushed very hard for it, to the point where all the experts and doctors were the ones that told me there’s no chance,” Watson said. “I pushed as far as I possibly could to get back out there and just try to play and push it toward after the season. I think the best situation for longevity and my career is to get immediate surgery. That’s what all the experts said, so I gotta follow their footsteps and go from there.”
Watson said that he expects to make a full comeback, but that it is very frustrating to have the injury come up at a point where it looked like he and the Browns offense were turning the corner. Rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson will reportedly be getting the call to replace Watson as the Browns try to navigate their way to the postseason without their intended quarterback.