Another bad season for Deshaun Watson will be disastrous for the Cleveland Browns

The Cleveland Browns can’t afford another bad year from Deshaun Watson.

Deshaun Watson is getting paid like a top quarterback in the league and needs to prove he is one. Despite his suspension last year, everyone talked about how Watson was staying in shape, how he was training with receivers, and how he was going to come back ready to go. Yet, his personal coach was leading the way and when he returned, Watson didn’t look ready. He looked iffy, slow, and almost unconnected at times.

It was like watching a shadow of what Watson was as a player. Many excuse his poor play due to his suspension, his few weeks away from the Browns facility, and the lingering legal issues he still faces to this day.

Yet, everyone said he was doing the work, so why did he look so bad? Certainly, the optics aren’t on his side, as he was seen hanging around controversial media personality Mia Kalifa during his suspension, which didn’t help his optics. Especially since those optics claimed that Watson was doing everything he could to get ready for his eventual return.

A return that fell flat. Now, Tony Grossi (via Browns Nation) is claiming that Watson is trying to return to form, saying;

"What I’ve been told is he’s just so committed in getting back on his horse and being one of the top QBs in the NFL"

For Watson’s sake, this better be true.

The Cleveland Browns can’t afford another iffy year from Deshaun Watson

There are many, myself included, who are willing to write off year one under Watson for a variety of reasons. The suspensions, the allegations, the vitriol, the nonsense, and the more football side of things; learning a new playbook, adjusting to an offense not built for him, and a head coach trying to figure out how to use two new quarterbacks in the same year.

You can excuse one bad year with Watson, especially with his off-field behavior leading many to wonder how committed he is to football. So if he’s being serious and is doing everything he can to get back to form, great. That should put the Browns in the best position to win if he’s able to return to form. If he isn’t able to, or he’s not being as serious as people like Grossi claim, then the Browns are screwed.

The Browns’ window to compete is two, maybe three years long at this point and a bad year from Watson will all but slam that window shut. He doesn’t have any excuses this year to be a mid-quarterback, so if he is, then this whole experiment will blow up in Andrew Berry and Jimmy Haslam’s faces.

And in doing so, may take down the current internal hierarchy with it. For the sake of the Browns, Berry, Kevin Stefanski, and the like, Watson has to return to form.