Browns QB Deshaun Watson and owner Jimmy Haslam
Bob Self/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK
It took Browns owner Jimmy Haslam much longer than it probably should have to admit the franchise missed the mark by agreeing to the ill-fated trade for Deshaun Watson. It’s safe to assume those comments came to the quarterback’s attention, and he seemed to respond while updating the world on his ongoing rehabilitation process.
If you were simply focusing on what Deshaun Watson achieved on the field during his time with the Texans, it’s not that hard to understand why the Browns decided to acquire the quarterback who was benched for the entirety of the 2021 season after Houston rebuffed his request to be traded.
Watson put together a solid résumé as the starting QB for the Texans, and the Browns desperately needed a talented arm in their seemingly unending quest to halt the revolving door of guys who’d failed to hold their own at the position in Cleveland.
With that said, trading for Watson after he was hit with a slew of sexual assault allegations was certainly A Choice, and the same could be said for the decision to give him a five-year, $230 million contract that became the largest fully guaranteed deal in NFL history after the transaction was finalized.
As most NFL fans are firmly aware by now, the pivot turned out to be an unmitigated disaster for a Browns team that’s once again hoping to find a competent quarterback after Watson crashed and burned in Cleveland, and last week, owner Jimmy Haslam took responsibility for the regrettable trade he described as “a big swing and miss” while all but saying the franchise has decided to move on.
There’s still no telling who will start for the Browns next season as Watson continues to recover from a torn Achilles (Cleveland currently holds the second overall pick in the draft), and on Tuesday, the QB appeared to issue a cryptic response to Haslam in an Instagram post filled with photos of him training at the team’s gym accompanied by a caption that reads “Maybe, if I weren’t built for this, I’d let it phase me…”
It sure looks like Watson is planning to play again as soon as he’s healthy, so this is going to be an interesting situation to keep an eye on.