CLEVELAND, Ohio — While all of Browns Town is focused on the four-way quarterback competition, Deshaun Watson continues to make excellent progress in his comeback bid at CrossCountry Mortgage Campus.
Watson, not part of the derby among Kenny Pickett, Dillon Gabriel, Joe Flacco and Shedeur Sanders, has been throwing to Jerry Jeudy and David Bell indoors at the Browns’ facility, a league source told cleveland.com. He’s been out of his walking boot for several weeks, as he posted on his Instagram account, and also posted photos of himself Monday throwing to receivers.
Jeudy is participating in the Browns voluntary offseason program, and Bell is working his way back from surgery last season to repair his dislocated hip.
Watson, who had his retorn Achilles repaired Jan. 10, is determined to make a comeback despite Browns owner Jimmy Haslam stating at the NFL Annual Meeting that the trade for him was “a big swing and a miss.”
Watson posted a video soon after the remarks on his Instagram account revealing that he’s more determined than ever to come back better and stronger.
“The performance comes when your back is against the wall,” Watson said in the video. “It comes better because you’ve kind of got to lock in. You don’t have anything pretty much to lose, and I feel like that’s where I’m at right now.”
Watson, suspended 11 games by the NFL in 2022 for sexual misconduct in massage therapy appointments, noted that “everyone’s doubting me. Everyone don’t believe in me. Everyone don’t think that I can get back to where I was. But I know and I believe the work that I put in, what I believe in myself, the peace that I’ve been channeling these last couple of months, I know I’m going to be way better than before.”
He noted that he allowed all of the boos and the criticism to impact him, but that he’s more equipped to handle it now.
“I think before I wasn’t prepared because I was kind of going with the flow of how the world was seeing me, but when you kind of get knocked down to the ground, and you’ve got to stand back up and walk through the ring, that brings out another fire, another challenge, another grit that you have inside you,” he said.
Watson is training as though he can make a comeback this season, even though the Browns don’t seem to be counting on it. A regular Achilles repair usually takes about nine months, but a revision could take longer. Nine months would take him into October.
At the NFL Combine in February, Browns GM Andrew Berry didn’t rule out a return for Watson this season but acknowledged he’ll miss significant time.
“How far that spans into 2025, I can’t give you a specific right now,” Berry said. “He’s shown to be a fast healer, and we’re going to try and be as thoughtful and aggressive with the recovery process. But that’s something that I can predict at the current moment.”
During his pre-draft availability April 17, Berry still didn’t slam the door shut when asked if Watson can return this season.
“It’s too early to say,” he said. “I can say that Deshaun’s done a great job of rehabbing. He’s been in every day, he’s progressing and that’s really our focus. But it’s just too early to say.”
At Berry’s end-of-season press conference in January, he stressed that Watson wants to be here despite being booed by some fans while down on the field with his ruptured Achilles.
“Deshaun is, number one, he’s very focused on getting healthy for all the obvious reasons,” Berry said. “That’s the first thing that’s top of mind. Deshaun’s invested in being here. At no point has he given an indication in terms of not wanting to be here or leaving the city or anything along those lines. He’s really focused on getting himself healthy and performing to a higher level.”
Watson, 9-10 over his first three seasons here largely because of his suspension and injuries (fractured shoulder and two Achilles tears), has been at the Browns facility rehabbing since undergoing the revision surgery on Jan. 10. He’s been determined to show the Browns how much this means to him, and how much he wants to play.
Kevin Stefanski gave a positive update on Watson at rookie minicamp two weekends ago, when asked how might the two rookie QBs stack up with the veterans.
“Not so much worried about how they stack up, per se, but excited to have them around Deshaun (Watson), Joe (Flacco), Kenny (Pickett),” he said. “Welcome them into the quarterback room and you know, understand that’s a place where we work really hard, we talk about a ton of football, high level football, and I think they’ll fit in really well.”
He acknowledged that Watson was out of the boot at that point and progressing well.
“He’s working really hard,” Stefanski said. “Doing a nice job in his rehab. Doing a great job in the meeting room as well.”
Gabriel also mentioned Watson as a positive influence when asked at rookie minicamp about the Browns drafting Sanders in the fifth round, two rounds later than him.
“I love it because of who it is,” Gabriel said. “Just for us both, you can learn from one another. But also it’s not just us two in the room. At least for right now it is. But going into the year, Kenny, Joe, and even Deshaun, just a bunch of guys who played a bunch of ball that we can all learn from one another.”
Sanders is probably also eager to be mentored by Watson, possibly upon some advice from his dad, Hall of Famer Deion Sanders.
When Watson re-ruptured the Achilles, Deion posted on X “Praying for @DeshaunWatson fervently,” with eight praying hands emojis.
For now, it’s a four-way quarterback competition. But Watson is determined to join the mix at some point.
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