Pro Football Rumors
Jimmy Haslam effectively closed the book on the Deshaun Watson era in Cleveland, labeling the high-priced quarterback “a big swing and miss” earlier this year. Two years, however, still remain on the embattled QB’s five-year, $230MM fully guaranteed contract — a deal that has produced some significant headlines pertaining to an NFLPA grievance recently. Watson’s rehab also may soon create a complicated situation for a team that has added four new passers this offseason.
Watson had resumed throwing to receivers in the spring, having shed his walking boot. As for where Watson stands now, cleveland.com’s Mary Kay Cabot offers a few key details on the fourth-year Browns performer’s rehab journey from two Achilles tears.
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As the Browns began a four-man competition between Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett, Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders, the team was “thrilled” Watson participated and has offered advice. Conversely, Watson beginning his rehab in Miami after his October 2024 injury did not go over well with some among the Browns, Cabot indicates. Watson as a mentorship presence certainly presents interesting optics given the on- and off-field developments that occurred since his Pro Bowl Texans days, but that appears to be happening as the Browns hold their competition.
Watson is mentoring both Gabriel and Sanders, per Cabot, who adds the veteran has taken Sanders “under his wing.” The 29-year-old passer has also shared thoughts on Kevin Stefanski‘s scheme with the two veterans, even after he fared poorly — as regular calls for his benching rang out last year — before going down with the first of his two Achilles tears. The second still appears likely to force Watson to miss a second full season; the first came when the Texans made him a healthy scratch throughout 2021.
As for Watson’s potential hopes of infiltrating the Browns’ QB mix at some point this season, Cabot notes he is expected to begin the season on the reserve/PUP list. That will knock Watson out for at least four games, and the Browns do not have to activate him immediately. Even if the Browns do designate Watson for return, they would have a three-week window before an activation decision would loom. Even as Watson has displayed progress thus far this offseason, Cabot adds a return to Cleveland’s active roster this season remains an “enormous longshot.”
Though, after parking Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah on the PUP list early (to end his season), the team has not made that move with Watson. A reality in which Watson is ready to practice in October is on the radar, per Cabot; the ninth-year vet underwent his second Achilles surgery in January.
Watson’s albatross contract, repeatedly restructured (most recently in March), will undoubtedly remain a Browns issue for the foreseeable future. The Browns would be on the hook for an unfathomable dead money amount if they cut him next year; they would surely spread the $131.16MM across two years via a post-June 1 designation. Though, Cabot adds Watson...
