The Cleveland Browns are sticking with Deshaun Watson despite the understandable conversation among their fan base and in the media that the quarterback should be benched following a season-opening loss.
“I anticipate that Deshaun will be our starter,” coach Todd Monken announced on Monday.
Monken gave his reasons for keeping Watson in the lineup for Sunday’s game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. But, make no mistake, the patience for continuing this course comes with an expiration date.
And that date is the Week 3 game against the Carolina Panthers.
First the news of the day: Monken, having watched the tape of a 34-10 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, believes he saw enough from Watson after 693 days of not playing to keep him in the starting role.
“It’s only been two weeks he’s gotten all the reps,” Monken said, referring to the fact the Browns had a starting QB competition in training camp and the practice repetitions were split between Watson and Shedeur Sanders.
“And there were some really good things on film,” the coach added, “some things that you can build on. And there were some others that operationally we got to get better at.
“There’s concepts that, you know, there’s only so many looks you get from week to week, be it red zone concepts, third down concepts. And I did think that when he had time, when he understood the concepts, he didn’t play tentative, that he let it rip.
“So there was a lot of things to build on. Wasn’t perfect, of course not. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have scored as few points as we did. But I’d like to see how we can build on that.”
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That’s as close to a full-throated endorsement any quarterback who completed 16 of 22 passes for a modest 205 yards with 1 touchdown and 1 interception could hope to get.
But let’s be clear, Watson’s time as the starter is not indefinite. In fact, it is likely to last only one more week unless he shows improvement against the Buccaneers.
Why?
Circumstances are working against him. And ownership is going to take those circumstances under advisement, multiple NFL sources believe.
So what circumstances?
The Browns play a Tampa team led by quarterback Baker Mayfield, who was the No. 1 draft pick in 2018 by the Browns.
But the Browns jettisoned Mayfield in a July 2022 trade, ending a contentious breakup after four years. Once Cleveland acquired Watson from Houston in March of 2022, Mayfield’s future was effectively over.
The Browns chose Watson over Mayfield, but Mayfield has gone on to significant success with the Bucs. And Watson has been a major disappointment with the Browns.
So it would be an embarrassment for the Browns and a grim reminder of that misguided 2022 decision if Mayfield outplays Watson. It would serve as a strong suggestion the club finally needs to move in a different direction.
But there could be a more compelling reason to bench Watson after another unremarkable week and that is all about the venue where the games are scheduled.
The Browns opened this season on the road and will be on the road in Tampa. They will have their regular-season home opener in Week 3 against the Panthers.
And that’s when the fractured relationship Watson has with Browns fans could be on full display. It was on display in the preseason when Browns fans booed Watson with gusto.
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After that game, Watson was somewhat critical of the fans for booing him. He believed it was disrespectful and said if he was named the starter he’d feel like he was playing 17 road games.
That Aug. 22 game was the last time Watson played at home. Can anyone imagine how Browns fans would react to Watson if he returns a month later, having criticized them and also having lost or played poorly the first two games of the regular season?
It would be ugly.
So Watson probably gets just one more week to rally and give fans and his team a reason to believe he’s turned a corner of sorts.
“We got to play better around him. We got to call it better,” Monken said. “And he’s going to play better.”
