The Cleveland Browns executed one of the league’s worst trade deals in NFL history when they acquired Deshaun Watson from the Houston Texans in 2022.
Cleveland surrendered six selections to pry Watson from Houston, and the quarterback quickly signed a five-year, $230 million extension to make matters worse.
It’s a deal that has been reworked multiple times over the past two years, providing short-term salary cap relief to the Browns’ payroll.
Still, Watson’s fully guaranteed contract will continue to haunt Cleveland for several seasons to come.
Long-time analyst Terry Pluto revealed his thoughts about Watson’s impact on the Browns, driving home how handicapped Cleveland is more than three years into this infamous deal.
“See, this is always what happens when you have Watson hanging over you,” Pluto said. “You’re always looking at, look, you’re bringing in 14 quarterbacks, you’re trying to add draft picks because he (Watson) messed everything up around back in 2022.”
The Browns have remade their quarterback room this year by drafting two quarterbacks and adding two experienced signal-callers to the mix.
Those four quarterbacks were needed as Watson is likely to miss the entire 2025 campaign after tearing his Achilles and subsequently retearing the tendon during his rehabilitation process.
The quarterback is just 9-10 during his time with the Browns, and he’s never played more than seven games in a season during his stint in Cleveland.
He had his best chance to show his worth in 2024 when the Browns implemented a pass-friendly offense similar to the scheme he ran in Houston.
Watson was a three-time Pro Bowler with the Texans, but off-the-field issues forced him to miss significant time after the 2020 season.
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