Deshaun Watson receives a lot of the blame for the current state of the Cleveland Browns’ franchise, and rightfully so. Ever since arriving in a 2022 trade with the Houston Texans, the quarterback has been an enormously expensive bust who has set the team back for at least half a decade.
Now, the Watson deal may become only the second-least popular trade in recent franchise history. The Browns this week sent active legend Myles Garrett to the Los Angeles Rams for younger edge rusher Jared Verse and three draft picks.
According to insider Jason Lloyd, the two historic deals are irrevocably connected, as he revealed that the hidden reason for the Garrett trade was the abject failure of the Watson acquisition.
“Really what it is, is it is the most devastating part of Deshaun Watson not working out. This is what happens. This is where you land when you trade three first-round picks for Deshaun, when you give him the contract you gave him, this is the collateral damage of that. This is where you wind up, is having to trade a cornerstone, Hall of Fame player, because now you gotta do it all over again. That’s the most deflating part,” Lloyd said.
“It’s a hard day. This is the collateral damage of the Deshaun Watson trade not working.” 💭🏈 – @ByJasonLloyd
Jason reacts to the #Browns trading Myles Garrett to the LA #Rams for Jared Verse and future draft capital, including a 2027 first-round pick 👀😳… pic.twitter.com/yOXYbnAUQZ
— Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show (@ultCLEsports) June 2, 2026
Despite Watson facing multiple sexual assault allegations, and being sidelined for the entire 2021 season because of them, the Browns still gave up multiple first-round picks to acquire him, even though they had Baker Mayfield as their starting QB. Cleveland then handed Watson the largest fully guaranteed contract in NFL history, and that $230 million burden, combined with their missing draft capital, was a “big swing and miss” that has prevented them from building a proper roster ever since.
In turn, that caused them to squander all of Garrett’s prime, even though they did make the playoffs in 2020 and 2023. Entering this season, despite highly optimistic reports about Watson’s current form, the Browns were again unlikely to compete for a postseason berth.
So, they finally decided to get what they could for Garrett, hopeful that in some way it would allow them to find a franchise quarterback in the 2027 NFL Draft. He would then be set up for success, thanks to their recent stockpiling of young talent.
As Lloyd said, it is very disheartening to think that the Browns are starting from scratch again, still searching for a quarterback solution. Now, they also no longer have arguably the best pass rusher of his era.
It all could have worked out very differently if the trade for Watson had never been made, or if he had been able to perform much, much better than he did.
NEXT: Analyst Reveals What Jared Verse Brings To Browns' Defense
