The Cleveland Browns continue to stand behind Deshaun Watson publicly, but that foothold is liable to falter next season just as soon as the QB does.
Perhaps Watson will return healthy from shoulder surgery and regain the Pro-Bowl form he possessed for three seasons with the Houston Texans before off-field issues derailed his career — or at least figure out how to stay on the field for more than six games a year, which was his tally in 2022 and 2023. But it’s more likely that the middling-to-poor performances that have defined Watson’s tenure in Cleveland will perpetuate and the Browns will again be trying to contend for a Super Bowl not because of their quarterback, but in spite of him.
The likelihood of that reality argues for the franchise to take a shot beyond a reunion with Jacoby Brissett or Joe Flacco this offseason as backups, moderate challengers and potential replacements for Watson if something goes wrong, which history suggests it will. Seth Walder of ESPN suggested on February 16 that the Browns flip draft capital to the Chicago Bears for QB Justin Fields, who is a near certainty to play elsewhere this upcoming season.
“If I were the Browns, I would look at Deshaun Watson as mostly a sunk cost and try to upgrade at quarterback,” Walder wrote. “With no first-round pick and so much money already heading Watson’s way, this would be tough to do. But trading a second- or third-round pick for Fields (still on his rookie contract) is feasible.”
The Browns surrendered three first-round picks, and then some, for the right to pay Watson $230 million in fully-guaranteed salary two years ago. As such, one second-rounder for Fields who will play on a cost-controlled contract for the next two seasons reads like the bargain of the century.
