Deshaun Watson would possibly miss half or the entire 2025 season and hears the whispers of his demise as doubts multiply about his capacity to rediscover the shape that tempted the Cleveland Browns into buying him from the Houston Texans three years in the past.
Watson is recovering from a pair of Achilles tendon surgical procedures in a span of lower than 4 months. He performed in 19 of a potential 51 video games with the Browns since being acquired from the Texans in March 2022, a deal Cleveland made regardless of the quarterback being accused of committing sexual improprieties by greater than two dozen therapeutic massage therapists within the Houston space.
Even Browns proprietor Jimmy Haslam went on the document final month to label the commerce a “swing and miss,” a significant revelation contemplating it got here from the person approving Watson’s checks.
Watson posted a short video addressing the doubters on Thursday.
“Everyone seems to be doubting me. Everybody do not imagine in me,” Watson mentioned in a video posted to Instagram. “Everybody do not assume I can get again to the place I used to be. However I do know, and I imagine the work that I put in, that I imagine in myself. … I do know, I am gonna be means higher than earlier than.”
The Browns acquired Watson in trade for first-round draft picks in 2022, 2023 and 2024, together with a 2023 third-round decide, and fourth-round picks in 2022 and 2024. In return, they obtained Watson — 9-10 as a starter with the Browns — and a 2024 sixth-round decide.
The Browns lastly are again within the first spherical of the draft and maintain the No. 2 total decide within the April 24 draft. With solely Watson and just lately acquired Kenny Pickett on the roster, Cleveland has a gap to dig out of, in accordance with Haslam.
Earlier than he performed a sport for the Browns, the franchise signed Watson, who then had three Professional Bowl picks to his credit score, to a totally assured five-year, $230 million contract. He’s nonetheless owed $92 million.
“We took a giant swing and miss with Deshaun,” Haslam mentioned final month. “We thought we had the quarterback, we did not, and we gave up loads of draft picks to get him. So we have to dig ourselves out of that gap. (It) was a whole group resolution and it ends with Dee (Haslam, Jimmy’s spouse and franchise co-owner) and I, so maintain us accountable.”
–Discipline Degree Media