It’s still a bit hard to believe that Deshaun Watson is starting a game for the Cleveland Browns soon, but this is the tough reality that Cleveland Browns fans are living in these days. The fans can only hope that he can rediscover even a fraction of the ability he showed during his early days with the Houston Texans, though some fans are still certainly hoping Watson crashes and burns and everyone can finally move on from this partnership.
It’s understandable why the reaction to Watson has been so loud and so negative. This is a downtrodden fan base that has been through way too much heartbreak at quarterback, so to have a $230 million QB coming off a twice-torn Achilles who has made just 19 starts in five years and recently told the fans that he doesn’t care about them, there is going to be a feeling of betrayal among the fans that the front office won’t be able to fix right away.
Camryn Justice of WEWS shared a clip from Assistant GM Catherine Hickman’s recent press conference. Hickman addressed the backlash to the Watson situation and stressed that the focus is just on winning games.
“Everything we do is to win football games. So that’s how we make our decisions, that’s how we think about it as an organization, and that’s no different at that position,” said Hickman.
#Browns AGM Catherine Hickman was asked about the negative reception of Deshaun Watson from fans:
"Everything we do is to win football games. So that's how we make our decisions, that's how we think about it as an organization, and that's no different at that position." pic.twitter.com/bJomjZl4WE
— Camryn Justice (@camijustice) September 2, 2026
It’s painful to hear, especially for the fans who are still staunch believers in Shedeur Sanders, but Watson probably does give the Browns the best chance to win right now. Sanders didn’t do enough to pry this job away from him and threw picks in both of his preseason appearances, so unless Watson flops early in the season, Sanders is going to have a lot more time to marinate on the bench.
The reality is that neither of these quarterbacks likely gives the Browns a great chance to win, but that’s not an issue the front office can solve until next offseason. The goal now is to make the best of a bad situation and see if anyone currently on the roster can surprise everybody.
This is a small attempt by the Browns to do a little damage control, but Hickman is right. Winning cures everything, but in this case, it’s going to take quite a few wins for Watson to undue the damage he has done.
NEXT: Analyst Pushes Back On Common Narrative Around Shedeur Sanders
