CLEVELAND, Ohio — Last season stunk, but next year beckons. Starting July 22, hope holds training camp in Berea. Three wins and 14 losses no longer define the Browns. In theory, Cleveland can finally move on from the Deshaun Watson trade.
In practice, the big Swing and Miss is still here.
Cleveland spent the offseason creating distance between itself and Deshaun Watson, the former starting quarterback whose $230 million contract stamps the franchise’s cap sheet with a scarlet letter (due in part to the quarterback’s list of sexual misconduct lawsuits). While Watson rehabbed his second torn Achilles, the Browns admitted [fault in acquiring him,](https://www.cleveland.com/browns/2025/03/browns-owner-jimmy-haslam-we-took-a-big-swing-and-a-miss-with-deshaun-watson-wont-force-a-qb-at-no-2.html) then added four different replacements.
Veteran passers like Kenny Pickett (acquired via trade) and Joe Flacco (signed as free agent) boast stability as coach Kevin Stefanski rebuilds his offense. Rookies like Dillon Gabriel (drafted 94th overall) and Shedeur Sanders (drafted 144th overall) double as dice rolls in the new search for a long-term starter. And Cleveland’s pair of first-round picks in the 2026 draft depict a future planned around Watson’s departure.
The awkward part: Cleveland can’t cut Watson without crippling its finances until next summer, creating an awkward purgatory in this divorce. While the Browns re-brand around Flacco and Pickett, Watson lingers on the roster. When Sanders and Gabriel learn their offensive ABCs during meetings, Watson takes notes alongside them.
Call it overexposure therapy. More than owning their old mistake, the Browns confront it every day. Makes it harder to start their new chapter.
Of course, Cleveland can’t place all its football failures on Watson’s shoulders. Fans can also thank bad injury luck (Watson’s shoulder, Achilles) for Cleveland’s 21-30 record (zero playoff wins) since 2022. Strange staffing decisions, such as firing successful offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt in 2024 to hire Ken Dorsey and fire him one year later, didn’t help, either. And general manager Andrew Berry’s poor draft record, which includes a first-round pick (Jedrick Wills) who just took a football hiatus during his free agency, deserves its own scrutiny.
But trading three first-round picks for Watson depleted the Browns’ source of young talent. Paying Watson $238 million, then re-structuring his contract each offseason, will hurt roster flexibility until (at least) 2029. And his performance — namely, the fourth-lowest success rate of any qualified passer since 2022 — stunted the team’s potential, particularly during the first seven games of last year.
The quarterback is the face of this failure, and he’s still on the team.
Gabriel described Watson as a helpful quarterback neighbor during minicamp. “He’s been a guy I’ve connected with as well, and he’s actually a guy I sit by in our O-line meetings,” Gabriel said. “...I think it’s super cool that we do have five guys in the room that kind of can speak to their own experience.”
Stefanski commended Watson offseason involvement despite injury.
“(Deshaun is) not practicing, but he’s rehabbing, attacking his rehab and being a resource for young players, which I think is a great message about being a great teammate – being available to all your young players, young and old, being available to your teammates," Stefanski said.
Nice words to hear, but good teammate-isms won’t clear Watson’s awful contract off the books. His teachings don’t change Cleveland’s future plans without him. And even the best intentions won’t fix the one of the worst trades in modern league history.
Nope. Only time can stitch this wound. Even as next year beckons and the Browns begin their search for a new quarterback, the big Swing and Miss looms over the franchise.
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