The Cleveland Browns’ decision to trade for Deshaun Watson has come back to haunt them way too many times already. They gave up way too many valuable assets to get him, and the fully guaranteed contract only made things worse.
For years, the fans have pointed the finger at multiple people for that decision. Some blame GM Andrew Berry, while others believe it was team owner Jimmy Haslam.
With that in mind, former Browns executive Paul DePodesta finally opened up on that decision. Now that he’s no longer an employee of the organization, he could provide a candid answer:
“Here’s what I would say, and I truly believe this. I believe that most of the decisions, especially the big ones like that, are organizational decisions, right? I’m not a believer in the ‘King Scout’ situation where there is one guy who makes every call. The jobs are too complex, the decisions are too hard. They impact too many different things. So I always think these sort of collective decisions, it can be hard to get unanimous (opinions) on those types of things. Everyone who was a part of that? We all own that. We just do, that’s part of the deal,” DePodesta said.
He’s got a valid point right there. At the time, it seemed like everybody in the organization was on the same page, from the head coach to the front office.
They didn’t seem to trust Baker Mayfield anymore, and Watson’s tape and numbers were incredible. He was one of the best quarterbacks in the league at that moment, up to the point where multiple teams were more than willing to look the other way despite the accusations against him.
Not even the most pessimistic Browns fan could ever imagine that he would be as bad as he’s been for the team. That’s a mistake they all have to own, regardless of who pitched the deal.
At least the Browns might be able to wake up from this nightmare pretty soon. He has only one more year left on his massive contract, and they can start from scratch sooner rather than later.
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