Dawgs By Nature
In a season filled with surprises, the Cleveland Browns got another one during Week 14 of the 1012 NFL season. After suffering an Achilles tear last season and re-tearing it again during the offseason, the Browns opened quarterback Deshaun Watson’s 21-day practice window on December 3rd.
It has caused an uproar amongst Browns fans, as most fans are over the Watson experiment, but then we learned that Cleveland has a plan to bring Watson back next year.
For the second game in a row, the Browns will not activate Watson in time for the Week 15 matchup with the Chicago Bears. That leaves a looming deadline with Christmas Eve being the 21st day after he was activated. If Watson is not activated, he’ll spend the last couple of weeks of the season on injured reserve.
With the reported plan for Watson in 2026, Cleveland’s brass may not want to cause problems if the quarterback believes he is healthy enough to be activated in the next 10 days and the team doesn’t do it. If Watson is healthy enough to play and the team chooses not to activate him, Watson could turn to the NFLPA and file a grievance stating that he is healthy enough to play. It’s a potential problem that the team doesn’t need to deal with.
Activation doesn’t mean he will actually play this season.
Considering where the team is, it wouldn’t make much sense at all for Watson to play during the season, especially after naming Shedeur Sanders the starter for the rest of the season. If anything, Watson can use the last couple of weeks to get acclimated to practicing and getting his mind right. Last season, from a mental standpoint, Watson didn’t look like himself and judging by how he has looked throughout the rehab process, he’s working to get back to the right mental state of mind.
Watson is likely going to be running the scout team and giving the team good looks while Sanders continues to take first-team reps for potentially the rest of the season. It’s highly unlikely that the team will play him because they have no obligation to play him in a season that’s meaningless.
