The Browns went all in for Deshaun Watson during the 2022 offseason, with a five-year, fully-guaranteed $230 million contract, and six total draft picks including three first-rounders.
In exchange, they’ve gotten six meaningless games last year (after his 11-game suspension) and six games this year (he made a quick exit in one of them). Now, he won’t be back until 2024.
That will make it year three. The Browns will have three years left to get a positive return on their massive investment.
It’s happening at a time when the Browns have become extremely viable contenders, even without Watson available on a consistent basis. They’re 6-3. They’re in the mix for a playoff berth. If they can get anything positive from their offense, they could even win the division.
Still, think of how much better off they’d be if they’d kept the $230 million — and if they’d retained the six draft picks. They could have signed a veteran quarterback. They could have drafted one. Hell, they could have re-signed Baker Mayfield.
Instead, they put all their eggs in the Deshaun Watson basket. While it’s impossible to predict when and how a serious injury will happen, devoting that much money and that many draft picks to one player raises the stakes, dramatically.
For now, it hasn’t worked out. They have three more seasons to make it work. By next year, Watson will have played 12 games since the 2020 season concluded. By next year, the Browns will need to get something significant from Watson, or it will be time to label the trade a disaster.
It’s trending that way. There’s still time to turn it around. For now, if the Browns could turn back the clock, they most likely wouldn’t do the deal.