Way down there, maybe 40 paragraphs into a feature takeout on Deshaun Watson, ESPN this week quoted someone close to the quarterback who delivered the most mind-blowing news of the NFL offseason: Watson doesn’t hate Cleveland.
To quote the story, “Watson, who hasn’t spoken to the media since tearing [his] Achilles [a second time, actually], has no ill will toward Cleveland, according to a source close to him.”
That’s so good to know. What a relief that Deshaun Watson isn’t holding a grudge.
This, of course, is troubling.
Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson works out during minicamp at CrossCountry Mortgage Campus on June 12, 2025. (Ken Blaze/Imagn Images)
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The framing of it is absurdly askew because, well, Watson has collected $184 million from the Browns the past four years while delivering 19 touchdowns in 19 starts, only in nine of which he managed to lift his team to victory.
Watson, brought to Cleveland from the Houston Texans in exchange for five draft picks, three of them first-rounders, has been the NFL’s biggest trade bust this decade and possibly any decade.
He brought the baggage of an unsightly sexual assault saga tied to his escapades at massage parlors to Cleveland and after settling with the 23 women who accused him of abuse, the NFL and he agreed to an 11-game suspension that effectively made his first Browns season in 2022 a wash.
Then came the second season (2023) that was cut short by a shoulder injury and the third season (2024) that was cut short by an Achilles injury and last season (2025) which never got off the ground because of a second Achilles injury.
Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson poses with general manager Andrew Berry and coach Kevin Stefanski during his introductory news conference on March 26, 2022, at the Browns training facility in Berea, Ohio. (Jeff Lange/USA TODAY NETWORK)
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Watson, in other words, has been a gift that keeps on taking the past four years.
And against that backdrop, he has incurred some criticism and even some booing from the Cleveland fan base.
But no worries, Dawg Pound! Deshaun Watson doesn’t hate you, a buddy of his is telling the media.
Why does this matter? Because it speaks to the company that Watson keeps, which reflects on him. It speaks to that company somehow believing Watson to be in any way aggrieved by his situation of the past four seasons when, in truth, he should be thanking heaven he’s still wearing a Browns uniform in Year 5.
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The utter arrogance of it all.
This is like inviting a homeless person into your home, sheltering them, feeding them, clothing them, educating them, and having that person’s confidant leak that the newly comfortable person doesn’t think less of you.
Or isn’t going to open a “learing” center in your back yard.
Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson looks for an open receiver during the second half of an NFL game against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sept. 15, 2024, in Jacksonville, Fla. (Phelan M. Ebenhack/AP)
It’s insulting.
Watson is currently locked in a starting quarterback battle with Shedeur Sanders this offseason. That battle is likely to last into training camp as new head coach Todd Monken tries to find a quarterback that won’t be an utter failure — like the last 42 or so quarterbacks who have previously started for the Browns have been.
So Watson is getting an opportunity.
He’s getting that opportunity because the Browns still owe him $46 million more in this, the final season of his $230 million fully guaranteed contract. So, the club figures, maybe Watson can start earning his keep.
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If he does, the ESPN source speculated, Watson might be open to signing an extension and staying with the Browns beyond this season.
That is so generous.
Cleveland apparently owes its nearly quarter-billion quarterback who hasn’t delivered anything but disappointment a debt of gratitude.
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