Cleveland Browns general manager Andrew Berry declined to state Cleveland’s position on Watson on Wednesday but the quarterback’s woes in Cleveland went before Watson injured his right Achilles tendon in the seventh week of the season. Seriously though, with Deshaun, I would say that on any player with a season-ending injury or a major injury, it is first and foremost to ensure that the player gets well from the Achilles injury.
Berry said during a meeting with media personnel during the weekend that the team had a break from game play. “All the rest, we will address later.” Even before the injury, Watson had the lowest total QBR among all qualified passers in the NFL. The Browns were 1-5 in Watson’s six starts of the latter season before an Achilles injury ended his season and the team was unable to score more than 20 points in any of the games.
To this, Berry said the problem with the offense was not entirely with Watson at one point. “We have not performed as a football team and we have not performed as one unit on the side of offense,” Berry said. The starting quarterback and the playcaller would be the most criticised when you do not play well on offence, said Sanchez.
But the crude aspect of it is offenses, and again, it boils down to coordination and cooperation. As for the reason why we didn’t perform well, there is a lot of sale labor share across various position groups. Since the Texans traded three first-round selections and signed Watson to a fully guaranteed $230 million contract before the 2022 season, Watson has featured in 19 games, and the past two years were ended by an injury. Strasburg was out for the last eight games of 2023 due to a surgical operation on his throwing arm.
He began the 2022 season with an 11-game suspension for sexual assault and misconduct allegations from more than two dozen women during massages. In 33.8 total QBR in his time since joining Cleveland, Watson ranks among 32 other qualified passers, only slightly above the Carolina Panthers Bryce Young. The Steelers’ wide receiver said he stood in full support of Watson’s coach, Kevin Stefanski, who stuck with starting him before this most recent issue occurred. When asked whether the decision to trade for Watson was his or a mandate from ownership, Berry said: “All of us were on board.”