There’s a strange vibe between the Browns and quarterback Deshaun Watson. And nothing that has happened in recent days has caused it to dissipate.
It started in Week 4. In the days after Watson had perhaps the best game of his Cleveland career in a 27-3 romp over the Titans, Watson appeared on the practice report with a shoulder injury. He was limited in practice. On Friday, he said he’d play against Baltimore.
Then, he didn’t.
At 5:04 p.m. ET on the day of the Ravens-Browns game, a source tipped me off to the existence of confusion among some players about Watson not playing. It was believed he would play. It was perceived he decided not to.
Although the team called it a “collective decision” in response to an inquiry from PFT, coach Kevin Stefanski said the very next day that Watson had been medically cleared to play. That bolstered the perception that Watson could have played against the Ravens.
It was believed he’d be able to go after the Week 5 bye. But he wasn’t able to play against the 49ers, and he returned for Sunday’s game against the Colts.
A big hit in the first quarter prompted a concussion evaluation. After the game, Stefanski said he decided to keep Watson out. Stefanski also spoke as if Watson would play this week at Seattle. Watson, in contrast, offered a more measured assessment. As of yesterday, Watson was scratched for the Week 8 game.
Although some have suggested that Watson simply doesn’t want to play, it’s way too early to come to that conclusion. He played with a torn ACL at Clemson. He took a bus from Houston to Jacksonville and back again so that he could play a game for the Texans when he couldn’t fly due to rib/lung injuries. Why would he not want to play, if he could? The Browns are a contender, and before the shoulder injury Watson seemed to finally be rounding back into his pre-2021 form.
That said, it would be naive to not at least wonder whether Watson has fallen out of love with the Browns. He wanted out of Houston just a few months after signing a big-money extension. Also, the Browns were the first team Watson scratched from his list of four finalists in 2022, before the Browns offered a five-year, fully-guaranteed contract.
So, yes, there’s a weird vibe. Neither the team nor Watson have said or done anything to change the situation. And we’ll continue to monitor things and generally to sniff around about whether the honeymoon has devolved into a standoff that, frankly, leaves both sides with few good options, given that Watson is due to make $46 million in 2023, in 2024, and in 2025, with every penny of it fully guaranteed.
It’s almost enough to make us wonder whether a surprise trade could happen before next Tuesday. At this point, however, who would take on the balance of that contract?