The Cleveland Browns are hoping against hope that Deshaun Watson will improve significantly on his season-opening performance when he takes the field in Week 2 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Watson may be hoping for the same thing, as some people think this will be his last chance to hold on to his starting job.
But based on what has become a long history of evidence, the Browns and Watson are likely to be disappointed. Granted, he had not played an NFL regular-season game in almost two years when he faced the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 1, but his struggles go back much further than that.
That is why former Browns QB Garrett Gilbert recently revealed a harsh truth about Watson, saying that the veteran hasn’t been very good for years.
“I want to give you guys hope, but the truth of the matter is that it has been a long time since we’ve seen any semblance of good football from [Deshaun Watson],” Gilbert said.
"The truth of the matter is it has been a long time since we've seen any semblance of good football from Deshaun Watson." #DawgPound
– Former Browns QB Garrett Gilberthttps://t.co/cqv2GQH5LK pic.twitter.com/eEO9MKGpqB
— BIGPLAY Cleveland (@BIGPLAYcle) September 18, 2026
The box score from the 34-10 loss to Jacksonville may not look so bad at first glance. Watson finished 16-of-22 for 205 yards, with one touchdown and one interception, for a passer rating of 97.7 that actually ranks slightly above league average.
But more than half of his yards and his TD pass came in the fourth quarter, when the game was long decided. He also threw an interception on his third attempt of the game, setting the stage for the embarrassing defeat.
When Watson last played during the 2024 season, before injuring his Achilles, his QBR was among the worst in the league. He completed 63.4 percent of his passes with five TDs and three INTs while taking 33 sacks in seven starts.
Since joining the Browns in 2022, he has never played more than seven games in a season, never passed for more than 1,200 yards, and has thrown for 20 TDs in his 20 appearances. He has never had a 300-yard game for Cleveland, last doing so in 2020, when he led the league in passing yards with the Houston Texans.
Watson recently complained that unfair expectations are being put upon him, but he has yet to show he can even be an average NFL quarterback in his time with the Browns.
NEXT: Analyst Says The Real Pressure Sunday Is Not On Deshaun Watson
