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Late-round steal?

Watson looking like Cleveland's starter

Back from the grave? Offseason reports suggest Deshaun Watson is looking like a possibility to open the season as Cleveland’s starting quarterback.

Mary Kay Chabot of Cleveland.com is the most highly regarded beat reporter covering that team. She reported Wednesday that Watson “has the inside track to be named QB1”. Hmm.

It would be quite a turnaround. Watson has been a disaster in his four seasons with the team – 9-10 as a starter and an embarrassment off the field, after dozens of women accused him of sexual misconduct. He didn’t play at all in 2025, remaining on the roster only because of his fully guaranteed contract.

But Watson is healthy now, and the Browns apparently are going to give him one last shot to return some value on that five-year contract worth $230 million that they foolishly signed him to four years ago (despite swirling off-field problems).

This may wind up being a nothingburger. I would not roster Watson as a second quarterback today. But if we’re in one of those leagues where a bunch of teams carry a third quarterback for speculative reasons, it makes sense to stick Watson in that kind of role, seeing what happens.

Let’s recall that before everything went sideways, Watson was an elite quarterback, particularly for our silly little game – he’s a willing and capable runner, with a knack for scoring touchdowns on his own. Recall that the Falcons and Panthers were also very interested in trading for Watson back in 2022.

If there’s anything to Watson getting his act back together, we could be looking at a sneaky top-10 quarterback.

Since 2017, 38 quarterbacks have started at least 50 games. When Watson was playing for Houston, he averaged better per-game numbers than all of them. He averaged 304 total yards in his 53 starts there, with 103 touchdown passes and another 16 touchdowns on the ground.

Of course, Watson the last four years in Cleveland has been worse than all of those giuys, averaging only 177 passing yards in 19 starts, with 19 TD passes and 3 TD runs.

Factor in also that the Browns have Todd Monken running their offense now. He did a very good job elevating Lamar Jackson in Baltimore in the 2024 season; Jackson that year was better than in his MVP seasons.

Makes a lot of sense to squat on Watson for the first few weeks of the season, I think. There might be something there.

QUARTERBACKS SINCE 2017 (per game numbers)
PlayerStPassTDPIntRunTDRPts
Deshaun Watson (Hou.)53272.41.94.6631.3.3432.6
Josh Allen127236.41.73.7437.0.6432.3
Patrick Mahomes126285.22.12.6721.2.1531.8
Lamar Jackson107210.61.74.5259.7.3231.4
Jalen Hurts82216.51.33.5442.3.7731.0
Joe Burrow77270.32.04.6611.0.1629.7
Jameis Winston57278.81.751.3016.3.1229.3
Kyler Murray87235.21.39.6936.7.3729.2
Dak Prescott123262.81.79.7214.9.2129.1
Tom Brady98282.01.97.611.9.1128.8
Justin Herbert95261.31.72.6118.1.1628.7
Russell Wilson122235.41.85.5723.5.1528.4
Drew Brees54263.81.96.43.5.1728.1
Cam Newton52203.91.10.8739.3.5227.6
Ben Roethlisberger64269.91.83.802.6.0627.4
Jared Goff144267.61.74.664.0.0827.3
Kirk Cousins126258.01.79.716.1.0927.2
Matt Ryan92272.71.53.757.2.1027.1
Aaron Rodgers122241.41.89.428.9.0927.0
Carson Wentz83237.41.71.7016.0.1127.0
Matthew Stafford130263.21.82.683.9.0126.9
Trevor Lawrence77231.51.27.7518.7.3026.3
Philip Rivers67270.91.66.84.4.0026.2
Justin Fields53169.2.98.5852.8.4226.2
Ryan Tannehill74217.81.49.6514.0.3026.0
Baker Mayfield120232.81.62.8413.1.0926.0
Daniel Jones82215.41.09.6728.5.2425.4
Geno Smith68235.81.40.7613.7.0725.2
Tua Tagovailoa76236.81.58.786.2.0725.2
Derek Carr122246.31.44.665.4.0625.0
Jimmy Garoppolo62241.41.44.844.0.1024.8
Sam Darnold90223.71.36.9011.8.1624.7
Mitchell Trubisky57207.01.19.7419.6.2124.3
Jacoby Brissett63218.21.16.4915.9.1924.3
Joe Flacco63242.51.38.873.3.0324.2
Andy Dalton76225.51.43.927.4.0524.1
Marcus Mariota55193.81.02.7126.2.2223.7
Mac Jones57218.91.14.888.4.0422.6
Deshaun Watson (Clev.)19177.11.00.6324.5.1622.3

—Ian Allan

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