Deshaun Watson's Future with Browns Will Be Evaluated 'at a Later Moment,' GM Says
Despite Deshaun Watson's struggles on the field and his season-ending injuries in back-to-back years, the Cleveland Browns aren't ruling out bringing back the veteran quarterback in 2025.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Browns general manager Andrew Berry would only say that Watson's status would be evaluated "at a later moment" when asked about his standing with the organization.
"Really our focus with Deshaun, I would say for any player with a season-ending injury and a major injury, is first and foremost and to make sure that he gets healthy from the Achilles injury," Berry said. "Everything else, we'll deal with at a later moment."
This is the first indication that anyone with the Browns has given that Watson might not return next season.
Even during his worst moments on the field this season, head coach Kevin Stefanski didn't even entertain benching Watson when asked about it.
"We're not changing quarterbacks," Stefanski told reporters after a 34-13 loss to the Washington Commanders on Oct. 6. "We need to play better, I need to coach better. That's really what it is."
The decision was taken out of Stefanski's hands when Watson suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon in the second quarter against the Cincinnati Bengals on Oct. 20. It's the second time in as many years his season ended due to an injury. He suffered a shoulder injury that limited him to six games before undergoing season-ending surgery in 2023.
Even before the Achilles injury put Watson on the shelf, he was playing so badly this season that The Ringer's Austin Gayle wrote a column on Oct. 14 breaking down the 12 stats that show how poorly things were going.
Among the stats included were that Watson had the same number of touchdowns in the previous two games as Browns safety Rodney McLeod Jr.; the Browns at one point had a streak of 26 consecutive failed third-down conversions with Watson under center; and Watson's total EPA on dropbacks through the first six weeks was worse than JaMarcus Russell's for the first six weeks of the 2009 season (minus-66.2 to minus-62.8).
Another issue aside from performance is Watson just hasn't been available during his three seasons with the Browns.
When you include his 11-game suspension to start the 2022 season for violating the NFL's personal conduct policy stemming from allegations from multiple women of sexual misconduct and sexual assault, Watson has only played in 19 games in three years since being traded to Cleveland.
Moving on from Watson would be easier said than done because the Browns gave him a fully-guaranteed five-year, $230 million contract when they acquired him. His contract has been restructured in each of the past two years, with one void year being tacked on at the end both times.
Watson's cap hit is $72.9 million in 2025 and 2026, with dead cap charges of $172.8 million and $99.8 million. The Browns would take a $72.9 million cap hit if they designated him as a post-June 1 cut next year, but it would be almost $100 million in 2026.
Even in this era where teams have shown a willingness to take on massive dead-cap charges to get rid of quarterbacks they don't want anymore, Watson's would be next level for a team that already has cap concerns going into the offseason.
Maybe there's a chance that Watson might give up some of the money he is owed to facilitate a trade to get a fresh start, but why would he do that when the Browns were willing to take the risk of giving him the contract in the first place?
Watson has thrown for 3,365 yards with 19 touchdowns, 12 interceptions and a 67.8 completion percentage in 19 starts in three seasons with the Browns.
