5 Browns Who Have Played Their Way Out of the Team’s 2024 Plans

2. Deshaun Watson, QB

Now, don't get me wrong. The Cleveland Browns have certainly made their bed with Deshaun Watson. They paid him $230 million in fully guaranteed cash and although wins are not a QB-specific stat, the Browns are 8-4 when Watson is in the lineup.

Unfortunately, due to suspension and now injury, those 12 games are all the Browns are getting from their first two years of investment in Deshaun Watson. The team needs to move forward as though Watson is going to miss time in 2024 because that's been their reality the majority of time since he arrived.

How different might things be if the Browns hadn't been tantalized by the 5th-round pick they were offered by the Arizona Cardinals for Joshua Dobbs? The backup QB spot needs to be upgraded and solidified as it was with Jacoby Brissett in 2022, but probably a higher ceiling than even that.

3. Elijah Moore, WR

I realize that the Browns got a third-round pick back in the Elijah Moore trade with the New York Jets, but this team invested a second-rounder in him. They would have been better off just packaging the picks to move into the first round and getting someone else, right?

Elijah Moore has just 34 receptions for 314 yards in nine games so far with the Browns. Anything can happen over the final eight games of the season, so we can't write off a second-half resurgence from Moore, but as of right now, how can this team move forward with him as a primary weapon offensively in 2024?

Especially with Amari Cooper getting older as well, I think the Browns need a better contingency at receiver going forward.