Expectations bring pressure in professional sports. The Cleveland Browns and, more specifically, quarterback Deshaun Watson face both.
With the Super Bowl on the horizon and the season for the Browns pushed further into the past, it becomes easier to acknowledge the recent past and look ahead to what’s next. There’s no debate that this season, despite a blowout loss to Houston on Wild Card Weekend, was a massive success given the circumstances. What the Browns were able to accomplish with Joe Flacco at quarterback should be considered an organizational achievement.
If the same thing happens next year, it won’t be considered that same success. On the football field, the goalposts are firmly planted a yard or so beyond the end line. In real life, they move. They moved this year when Watson was ruled out for the year with a fracture in his shoulder. The expectations lessened, and the Browns soared past them. Now they move back, beyond where they originally were. Next season, this will be Watson’s team. Flacco will likely end up elsewhere with a chance to play – the thing he’s stated that he wants – and the Browns will move forward with Watson.
This is fair. It’s a healthy place for an organization to be, too. The next time those posts should stop moving for the Browns is when they’re stuck in the “Super Bowl or Bust” area. That point hasn’t quite been reached yet, but it’s not far off.
After investing $230 million in a contract extension in Watson and sending a plethora of draft picks to Houston in the trade to acquire him, the Browns don’t have a choice. That’s fine, but it places everyone involved inside a pressure cooker. The trade was the biggest in the history of the Cleveland Browns. To date, it’s been a failure. That doesn’t mean it always will be, but there’s not an argument it has been a success thus far.
The instant pushback is that Watson is under no pressure moving forward because his entire contract is guaranteed. While that’s accurate, just because an athlete is slated to make a certain amount of money doesn’t mean pressure can’t exist. Every athlete in professional sports is under some sort of pressure. Most times, the more money involved, the more pressure exists. Maybe that isn’t a direct correlation with Watson — but to say none exists would be foolish. The money is guaranteed, but if next season doesn’t go well at that position, the Browns owe it to the rest of the roster to keep looking for the right answer.
Seeing what the Browns were able to do with Flacco, a 38-year-old quarterback who hadn’t played this season before December should add more confidence to Browns fans in head coach Kevin Stefanski, even with a revamped offensive staff in place around him. In his time in Cleveland, it could be argued Stefanski has gotten the best out of each quarterback that’s played for him, except Watson. The list of quarterbacks that have played during that time is longer than the organization would like, but all of them have played some of their best football here.
When the calendar flips from 2024 to 2025, that needs to be able to be truthfully said about Watson. The conversation cannot continue to be about the flashes of brilliance he’s shown at times during games while continuously wanting more. That’s pressure.
The last image in everyone’s mind with Watson was his perfect second half against the Baltimore Ravens. He completed all 14 of his pass attempts as he helped the Browns erase a 14-point fourth-quarter deficit. That performance was an outlier, of course. No quarterback is perfect the way Watson was during that half, and no one is expected to be.
But how much is the performance of one half of football worth hanging your hopes on?
Watson was ruled out for the year a couple of days later, needing season-ending surgery on his throwing shoulder. This means that Watson has played a total of 12 games since being acquired 23 months ago. The year before that trade, he didn’t play at all for the Houston Texans, the team that just beat the Browns in the playoffs, partially thanks to some draft capital and cap savings the Browns sent their way in the Watson deal.
The reality is that the Browns need Watson to be great to reach these goalposts. The elephant in the room is that there’s very little precedent for a quarterback to play a dozen games in three seasons, need a procedure on his throwing shoulder and then play at a high level. If there’s a circumstance where this has happened before, it’s not one I’m aware of.
It’s not to say it can’t happen. It can. That’s what the flashes we’ve seen have led us to believe. But there’s pressure for it to happen. Pressure on Watson, on Stefanski and Ken Dorsey, the new offensive coordinator in Cleveland. Watson is the most important piece of the puzzle right now for the Browns. If he doesn’t fit by this time next year, it’s fair to start thinking about how this all went wrong and how to move on from a failure.
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