When Deshaun Watson arrived to the Cleveland Browns in 2022, he came with plenty of baggage. He sat out all of the 2021 season with the Houston Texans due to sexual assault allegations that began to surface.
Despite that, the Browns traded three first-round picks plus three later-round selections to the Texans to acquire him. Then, Cleveland gave Watson a fully guaranteed $230 million contract.
The Browns did that despite knowing what they did at the time. It turns out, there was even more going on between Watson and the Texans, who, despite growing tensions, had already handed him a four-year, $160 million contract extension before his rookie deal expired.
A recent report by NFL insider Tom Pelissero exposes concerns about Watson long before he joined the Browns, citing problems both on and off the field.
“While often electric on the field, he was frequently late to meetings, wanted increased influence over personnel and coaching decisions, and had trouble correcting some on-field shortcomings, such as a cadence that coaches felt was contributing to pre-snap penalties,” Pelissero wrote.
Wanting influence over personnel and coaching decisions is not out of line for a top quarterback in today’s NFL, particularly one who was just given a lucrative contract extension. But being consistently late to meetings is not the kind of example one would expect from the supposed face of the franchise making that kind of money.
The observation about Watson’s cadence should be very interesting to Browns fans, who have listened to head coach Todd Monken defend his choice of the veteran as the starter in large part because of his ability to run the offensive operation better than Shedeur Sanders can. Monken uttered the word “cadence” multiple times during training camp, and since he admitted that he did not watch any early film of Watson, this is likely a huge surprise to him.
With everything else surrounding Watson, his character and his playing ability, including recent comments about unfair expectations being placed on him, these long-ago infractions may seem minor. They also are unlikely to have had any effect on the Browns’ desire to trade for him.
But with Baker Mayfield waiting with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for a Week 2 matchup against the QB who replaced him in Cleveland, it is another set of dubious circumstances added to the uncomfortable situation.
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