"It's a disrespectful thing," Deshaun Watson said after Browns fans boo'd him as he completed five of 12 passes for 36 yards and threw an egregious interception in a preseason game against the Bills' backup defense.
"Last time I played on this field, I tore my Achilles. And that same fan base, they cheered when I got hurt," he continued. "So what does that have to do with anything about performance when a person gets hurt, especially for your own city?"
Around 36 hours later, Watson was named Cleveland's starting quarterback for Week 1 against the Jaguars in Jacksonville. An interesting decision.
Is it disrespectful to boo a person that, himself, disrespected the 27 women that filed lawsuits against him by trying to brush it off to the side and pay them to stop talking? I think not. Is it disrespectful to boo someone making $230 million over the course of five years, despite that person being terrible at his job? Don't think so. How about the fact that you crushed this fanbase's hopes by only playing in 19 games in three years since being traded to a franchise that hasn't experienced any success in most people's lifetimes?
Maybe, Deshaun, if you were, you know, good, they wouldn't boo you. "We've got to put our big boy pants on and go play," head coach Todd Monken said in response to Watson's crying. It's not the first time he's been told to put his pants back on.
Watson's 80.7 passer rating since he joined the Browns is sixth-worst among quarterbacks who have started at least 17 games since 2022. His 19:12 touchdown-to-interception ratio is awful, and football simply looks hard for him when watching him play.
So, how can a guy that hasn't played well hasn't played well since coming to Cleveland, trashed his own diehard fanbase, played like JJ McCarthy in the preseason against backups, hasn't looked good in practice, and is nearly 31-years-old with no signs of getting any better, the starting quarterback for an NFL team?
"Any major decision is an organizational decision," Monken said after naming Watson the starting quarterback. Monken wasn't around when Cleveland the abysmal trade for Watson - he has no connection or affinity to him. The front office does, though. Owner Jimmy Haslem and general manager Andrew Berry made the deal happen, and they certainly still run the show.
Haslem has to be embarrassed that Watson is an employee of his. Not only that, but Haslem is using up a significant amount of his team's cap space to pay him $230 million. He's hoping to get at least a little back on his return of a colossal investment.
It's like trying to squeeze the very last bits out of an expired juice because you don't want it to go to waste, even though it will probably make you sick. Not only that, but you have fresh juice right next to you (though it might be uncomfortably warm) - Shedeur Sanders. It makes no sense.
Sanders hasn't played well either in his short NFL stint, but he drastically outperformed Watson in the last preseason game (completed 9 of 11 passes for 74 yards, a touchdown, and a tipped interception) and he's only 24-years-old.
Cleveland has no real expectations this year, so picking the bad veteran QB over the young player in hopes that he somehow turns the team around doesn't add up, especially when the young player has untapped potential. Shedeur can at least provide hope to the fanbase and is much easier to cheer for. Unlike Watson, the person seven years younger has been mature in interviews and press conferences, showing that he can be a real leader moving forward.
Simply put, we've seen enough out of Watson. The guy stinks and there's no chance that he gets back to the level he was playing at in Houston. Again, Sanders hasn't cemented himself a true NFL quarterback yet, but he seems to have a stronger arm, reads the field better, and creates more off schedule plays. Letting him grow by giving him as many game reps as possible in a season with no expectations should've been the Browns plan. Now they go into the year with a known bad QB, and still no expectations.
If Watson doesn't light up the scoreboard in Week 1 against the Jags and Week 2 against the Buccaneers, he may not have to play in front of Cleveland's daunting fanbase that waits for the Browns to make their home debut in Week 3.
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