Deshaun Watson’s Career With The Cleveland Browns Won’t Really Start Until Next Season

The irony of it all is that after trading six draft picks, including three first-rounders, to the Houston Texans in exchange for Deshaun Watson, the Cleveland Browns in 2022 finished where they very likely would have finished even if they hadn’t made the trade.

That place was last place.

With a record of 7-10, the Browns finished in last place in their division for the 14^th time in the last 20 years.

The expensive, blockbuster trade for Watson, which, as of today, means Cleveland won’t make a selection in the first round of the NFL Draft until 2025, had a negligible effect on the Browns’ 2022 season.

After serving his 11-game suspension for violating the NFL’s Player Conduct Policy, Watson, playing in NFL games for the first time in nearly two years, was understandably rusty when he returned to start the Browns’ last six games.

Cleveland split those six games, beating Houston, Baltimore and Washington, and losing to the Bengals, Saints and Steelers. Watson completed 58% of his passes, throwing seven touchdown passes and five interceptions. He had a quarterback rating of 79.1.

Statistically it was a mediocre, though not unexpected showing that could be attributed mostly to Watson’s extended time away from the game. Barring injury, there is no reason to believe the 27-year-old Watson won’t return to his status as one of the elite quarterbacks in the NFL in 2023.

The Browns can only hope that happens starting immediately.

Because from a practical standpoint, in a best-case scenario, the Browns, in exchange for a five-year $230 million contract and the loss of six draft picks, including three first rounders, will be getting four years of usable service time from Watson.

Had Watson’s suspension not been as lengthy as it was, it’s conceivable that he could have played enough games this year to make a difference in the Browns’ quest to reach the postseason. But the last six games at the end of an already disappointing season weren’t nearly enough. For that there is nobody for Watson and the Browns to blame but he and they. He, for putting himself in this position, and they for doing the same.

In some ways, the outcome for both was fitting.

Had the Browns not traded for Watson they would have had to acquire some starting quarterback after parting company with Baker Mayfield. We’ll never know who that could have been, and what he could have produced.

But the Browns did what they did, and when it comes to team building in any sport, there are no shortcuts. Even apparent ones are fraught with risk. The Browns learned that this year in the “Waiting for Deshaun” portion of their schedule.

The designated stand-in for Watson was professional backup quarterback Jacoby Brissett, who had what amounted to a career year, or at least a career two-thirds of a year. In his 11 starts Brissett completed 64% of his passes, with 12 touchdown passes, two touchdowns rushing, six interceptions, and an 88.9 passer rating.

But that wasn’t enough. The Browns were 4-7 with Brissett behind the wheel. Clearly the team had problems in other areas, mainly the defense, which put even more pressure on the offense to carry the load.

The load got carried, but not far enough.

When Watson returned and made his first start, on December 4, in Houston, against his former team – you can’t make this stuff up – Brissett moved back to his backup role, and the Browns played hopscotch in the last six games of the season: a win, a loss, a win, a loss, a win, and a loss.

It felt like a lost season, and it was.

Take it from the Browns. They know a little bit about lost seasons.

This one was lost for multiple reasons, perhaps the biggest being that it wasted another year of the Browns’ offense, which, unlike the defense, is loaded with playmakers and road-grading linemen, for whom their career clocks are ticking.

For example, running back Nick Chubb, who in his five years with the Browns has rushed for 6,341 yards, scored 52 touchdowns, but has zero touchdowns rushing in his postseason career.

With Watson sitting out his suspension for the first 11 games of 2022, the Browns’ season was effectively on hold. Brissett did his best. But backups are backups for a reason, and the longer Brissett played the more he looked like a backup.

It wasn’t until near the beginning of the season that the Browns found out how long Watson would be suspended. They prepared for it long before that. Cleveland traded for Watson on March 18. Seven days later they signed Brissett as a free agent.

Everyone knew that the key to the Browns’ season would be the length of Watson’s suspension. Four, five or six games might have been manageable. Eleven was not.

Eleven it was.

That number virtually guaranteed what happened, and what happened was not much. A record of 7-10, and no playoffs, which the Browns could have done without Watson.

Wait until next year, indeed.