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Deshaun Watson’s Rise and Fall 4 Warning Signs We Missed

  • October 11, 2024



Deshaun Watson’s Rise and Fall 4 Warning Signs We Missed

Learn about Deshaun Watson’s rise and fall in the NFL with the Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show. Garrett Bush breaks down 4 warning signs we missed.

Is it time to bench Deshaun Watson? A growing number of people think so.
The Cleveland Browns quarterback faces heavy scrutiny after a series of bad performances this season, so bad that it even left former players turned sports media personalities Shannon Sharpe and former Cincinnati Bengals star Chad “OchoCinco” Johnson perplexed.

The Browns lost their third consecutive game Sunday, a 34-13 loss to the Washington Commanders. It’s likely that Browns fans have started to regret Watson’s 2022 trade from the Houston Texans, as well as the Browns restructuring Watson’s contract for a third time.

Chad Johnson left ‘confused’ at Deshaun Watson’s decline
Sharpe and Johnson spent a lot of time marveling at Watson’s play this season on their “Nightcap” podcast recapping Week 5. And by marveling, we mean being dumbfounded by his rapid decline.

“I’m confused. I’ve been watching football for a very long time,” Johnson said to Sharpe. “The nosedive I’ve seen … from maybe a top-3 quarterback when he was with the Texans to the version of Deshaun Watson I’m seeing now, how? In such a short amount of time, how?”

Sharpe echoed the decline, noticing a stark difference in Watson’s performance. “He don’t even move the same…I think [injuries] weigh a lot on his mind. He hasn’t been the same,” Sharpe said. “His last year starting in Houston, he led the NFL in passing yards. Deshaun, he’s a bottom-five quarterback.” Sharpe even went so far as to compare Watson to Ben Simmons, the onetime NBA Rookie of the Year and all-NBA player who has fallen off the last two seasons.

Johnson and Sharpe are right—Watson is being outplayed by rookies
If ESPN’s QBR ratings are any indication, Watson is the worst quarterback in the NFL this season. The power rankings show that even rookies are putting up a better performance. Watson, who has faced woes on and off the field, has been sacked 26 times after only five games. When he’s not getting sacked, he’s more of a detriment than a benefit to the Browns’ offense.

Despite calls to sit Watson, Browns coach Kevin Stefanski has no plans of benching him, emphasizing that he was not making a quarterback change in favor of Jameis Winston. Heading into Sunday’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles, the pressure builds for Watson not to remain the starter this time around.

“I have to coach better,” Stefanski said in a virtual press conference. “As offensive coaches, we have to coach better. As players, we have to play better. Deshaun can play better, he will play better. He’s had some, obviously, good moments, and then there’s some times that we have to play better around him. He’s committed to getting better. We’re committed as an offense to putting our guys in position to succeed.”

As for Watson, he’s blocking out the criticism.

“First off, I don’t hear it, I don’t see it. So, I’m not on Twitter, I’m not on any social media or things like that. So anytime that stuff comes up, the only time I first hear it is either you guys are bringing it up or somebody else outside, and I just don’t know who it’s coming from,” he said in response to the backlash. “I mean, for the outside people and the media, yeah, it might be loud, but for myself, I got to make sure I’m locked in and trying to do whatever I can to get all of us on the same page to play winning football.”

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23 comments

  1. again, I restate… Cleveland is nationally known for taking in hot-head, flashy, outspoken, and/or cocky sports stars and allowing them to thrive in our community.

  8. Don't let Mike Florio and Pro Football Slander rewrite history. Deshaun Watson along with JJ Watt and Deandre Hopkins were the best things going for Houston. Bill O'Brien held the team back with his bad play calling as an offensive play caller followed by his even more terrible decisions as a GM. He had tried and failed with various QBs like Ryan Fitzpatrick, Brian Hoyer, Brock Osweiler, and Tom Savage until GM Rick Smith made the wise decision to draft Watson. The Texans made it to the AFC Divisional game vs the Chiefs and almost won it until O'Brien made a series of baffling play calls that lost the game. The 2020 year where O'Brien got fired early in the year and Romeo Crennel took over as interim coach is when Watson made the pro bowl for the 3rd time and led the league in passing.

    If O'Brien actually was the main reason for Watson's success, then why can't Kevin Stefanski get the same results? People can't have it both ways in this argument. Watson isn't playing good, but he's not the main reason the Browns are this bad. The Browns are failing in multiple areas and the head coach should get most of the blame. Watson only had two truly awful games this season (Cowboys and Commanders). The other games he's played well enough where a better coached team could have eked out wins (Raiders and Giants). 

    Let's be real. The real reason why people hate Deshaun is because they feel he got a $230M guaranteed contract by demanding a trade while facing numerous sexual assault allegations…even though two grand juries in Texas decided not to even indict him due to lack of evidence. The media has been wanting this to fail since day 1 and are eager to close the book on Watson and condemn the Browns for signing him. But they always neglect to mention that other teams like the Falcons and Panthers were trying to sign him and were outbid.

    I hope the Browns organization just blocks out the noise and just do what they know is best. If it means benching Watson for Winston then so be it, but with all the money due to Watson for the next two seasons they should exhaust every option before ditching him, including changing the head coach. It's easier to replace the coach than the QB and Stefanski isn't a special coach. Benching Watson is essentially waving the white flag on the season and it will be 4-5 years before the Browns can hope to be relevant again.

  9. Coaching or Character. The key to the future might be in the past. But coaching can't fix it. Watson has to be a repentant soul. He needs to skin the old Watson and reveal the new Watson.
    It is spiritual, not Xs and Os.
    Watson has to be personally responsible for his past actions.
    And clean up his mind. He is broken, and good mental processes is hard because of the stress he has.
    Washed can only be fixed with humility.

  11. Deshaun had big help with Texans soon Dhop left his numbers dropped. Look how he throws the ball. He had one of the ugliest throwing form I eva seen. That’s why his accuracy looks so bad !

  12. I ain’t going lie I like Gbush and I’m straight outta Baltimore. But when it comes to Deshaun he is so dumb founded. I think Deshaun gave him a nice tip to protect his name cause ain’t no way u been watching this man play football and still have all this hope. It’s completely ova. He’s paid and don’t af about Cleveland. He said himself he didn’t wanna go to Cleveland. It was just a quick money grab flat out !

  13. I ain’t going lie I like Gbush and I’m straight outta Baltimore. But when it comes to Deshaun he is so dumb founded. I think Deshaun gave him a nice tip to protect his name cause ain’t no way u been watching this man play football and still have all this hope. It’s completely ova. He’s paid and don’t af about Cleveland. He said himself he didn’t wanna go to Cleveland. It was just a quick money grab flat out !

  17. Baker didn’t just win against Pittsburgh. He went into their house & won the 1st playoff game since the team came back into the league in 99. He also drove the final nail into Ben’s swan song.

  19. I know I'm about to sound like a Watson Warrior but I truly think dude just tried to do too much in that Washington game. The game before, he did more than enough to win and we still didn't win so he tried to put the team on his back and it blew up in his face. He was spamming Cooper hoping to get him involved so when he needed him he wouldn't be cold and in doing so he neglected the other receivers who were wide tf open (he really need to start trusting his receivers more as it's become a hindrance). And what makes me think this is MKC asked him in his most recent presser if he thinks he was doing too much and he agreed and tried to explain himself away. He knows he was doing too much and hopefully he doesn't do it again but hero ball is in his DNA. It's a character flaw as a QB. Yes it one him the championship at Clemson but that doesn't work in the NFL. Sometimes you gotta take what the defense gives you and if that's nothing then just throw it away. That's my 2 cents

  21. From a Texan fan, thanks for the picks and getting him out of here. Watson's whole demeanor changed when he signed his big deal in H-Town. Prior to 2020 he had DHop in his prime who bailed out Watson all the time. In his 2020 season everyone talks about the Texans were 4-12 and his stats were greatly padded due to the horrible defense the Texans had that year. Yall need to hire Jack Easterby, Watson will request a trade and sit out

  22. Sometimes players have great abilities. And low IQ .. I think that Watson has that and IQ . His problem isn't that .. he knows how to play yet . Example. I'm a musician and people always say man your great but I don't feel that I am .. and I think Watson doesn't want to be the one making those decisions. So he looks to the coach .

  23. Set aside the allegations and even the play this year, and look at the timeline of facts for Deshaun.
    1. He played 3 good years in Houston.
    2. He signed a 156 million major contract extenstion with Houston. If he didnt like the team, or wanted to leave, then leave. But no he took the money then threw a twmper tantrum and aat out a year.
    3. He said he was not interested in playing cleveland.
    4. Then he said ok to the money. Not the city not the fans ect.
    5. Then his first year is suspension.
    6. Second year injury.
    7. Durring the injury year he is not on the sideline learning the offence supporting the team nothing. Sitting in a suite by himself with his lady.
    8. Cleveland makes the playoffs without him.
    9. He plays mediocre (at best) this year. Pregame hype is done by Winston, mid game pans show him on the sidelines towel over his head, no Ipad no team mates, no interest shown.

    Instead of asking when did it go wrong, i got to ask you, when was it ever right?
    What has DW4 done in the community, in press conferences, anywhere, that we can rally behind?

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