Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson was bashed for his recent press conference hitting out at Browns fans for booing by 'Good Morning Football' host Kyle Brandt
Deshaun Watson
Deshaun Watson is off to a rocky start in preseason(Image: Getty Images)
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First-year Cleveland Browns coach Todd Monken went against the wishes of preseason-attending fans and named Deshaun Watson as the team's opening day starting quarterback.
Coming off a disastrous preseason outing where he completed five of his 12 pass attempts amid a flurry of boos at Huntington Bank Field, Watson hit out at the fanbase in his post-match presser. The veteran Browns QB with the $260 million guaranteed salary called the boos "personal," "disrespectful," and pointed out how the "Last time I played on this field, I tore my Achilles, and that same fan base, they cheered when I got hurt.”
Before he issued an apology at his next presser, NFL Network host Kyle Brandt called Watson's press conference "career-ending."
“Was that a career-ending press conference? I think it might have been,” Brandt said last week on 'Good Morning Football.' “I would cut him. I would maybe deactivate him. Take your pick."
"You don’t want him as a backup, and I don’t think anybody on the team wants Deshaun Watson as the starter, including Deshaun. You don’t openly engage and antagonize the fan base after another crap performance a couple weeks before the opener if you actually want the starting job.”
Watson, who tore his ACL during the 2024 season and missed the 2025 campaign, won Cleveland's QB battle by default over second-year player Shedeur Sanders. The Browns are on the hook for over $100 million of his contract over the next three years and don't project as a competitive team in 2026.
The former first-round pick settled 24 of the 27 civil lawsuits filed against him. Despite having knowledge of his legal situation, Cleveland still traded three first-round picks to the Houston Texans to acquire him in 2022.
Watson returned to the microphone two days later and offered a U-turn on his original statements.
Deshaun Watson
Deshaun Watson and Shedeur Sanders both entered training camp with a chance to win the starting job(Image: Getty Images)
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"Putting a lot of time these last two years to get back and spend time in this facility and the city, meeting a lot of different people in the community, I thought I was going to get a little different response," he said on Monday.
"But I think my emotions got the best of me. My comments [weren't] intended to go at any of the fans around the city, because there's been a lot of great fans that have been supporting me."
Sanders, who finished the 2025 season as Cleveland's starter and was the fans' choice to start this year, defended Watson.
“I don’t really like, overall, whenever the whole stadium is booing and stuff because he’s going out there, he’s trying to put in work too, just how we all are," he said on Monday. "Just as being a person, I don’t really like that, and I don’t really respect that.”