Why Deshaun Watson’s comments may have cost him more than the Browns’ starting job
Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated has been writing the most optimistic version of Deshaun Watson’s comeback. He wrote after a training camp visit that Watson had found his sea legs in the second week of camp, that he was playing with more confidence, and that Todd Monken’s offense sat closer to what he had run in Houston under Bill O’Brien.
On Sunday morning, after Cleveland’s second preseason game, Breer posted a different assessment.
“I went into yesterday pretty certain that Deshaun Watson was going to be the Browns starter,” Breer wrote. “Now I’m not sure he’s going to be on the team. That press conference is going to be difficult to come back from. We’ll see how the decision-makers reckon with it.”
I went into yesterday pretty certain that Deshaun Watson was going to be the Browns starter. Now I’m not sure he’s going to be on the team. That press conference is going to be difficult to come back from.
We’ll see how the decision-makers reckon with it.
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) August 23, 2026
The news conference followed a 31-7 preseason loss to the Buffalo Bills in which Watson went 5 of 12 for 35 yards with an interception and was booed through the second half at Huntington Bank Field. He told reporters the reaction had nothing to do with his performance, called it disrespectful, and said the same fan base had cheered when he tore his Achilles tendon on that field in October 2024.
I get the point he was making, and most people watching probably do, theres no doubt about that. Where he lost me is in turning the crowd into the opposition, because that goes a step too far and it costs him something he needs. What the fans want from him is his best football and a reason to get behind him again, and a simpler answer would have carried all of that. He had the room to say he heard it, that he understood it, and that he intends to change it on the field. Framing the people in the seats as the enemy leaves him further from the job than he was before he spoke.
Oh Boy: Deshaun Watson goes OFF on Browns fans for booing him.
“It’s a little bit personal than that. It’s a disrespectful thing. Last time I played on this field, I tore my Achilles. And that same fan base cheered when I got hurt.”
😳😳😳 pic.twitter.com/e5biQ2SpO4
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) August 23, 2026
Cleveland closed its own exit from the contract back in March
Watson had been asked on Wednesday what reception he expected from the crowd, and he answered that he did not care and wanted to prove he could be the starter. Three days later he spent his postgame session on the crowd, which is the gap Breer appears to be reacting to. Monken, asked about the reception, put it back on the football, saying his quarterbacks would stop hearing it once they played better.
Watson is in the final year of a five-year, $230 million contract that was fully guaranteed at signing, and the Browns restructured it again in March, converting up to $44.745 million of his $46 million base salary into a bonus and freeing about $36 million in cap space. That left his 2026 base salary at the veteran minimum of $1.255 million, which is roughly what releasing him would save. The rest is already spoken for, spread through void years that keep him on Cleveland’s books into 2030.
Cleveland is carrying four quarterbacks in Watson, Shedeur Sanders, Dillon Gabriel and sixth-round rookie Taylen Green, and the league’s cutdown to 53 players arrives on Aug. 30. Monken has said Green will play in Thursday’s preseason finale against the New England Patriots, a game the Browns had planned to use as a dress rehearsal for whichever quarterback won the job.
In May, Breer argued that the Browns owed it to themselves to see what was left of Watson before the contract ran out, and earlier this month he was writing about improved command at the line of scrimmage. A reporter moving that far in a day says more about how Saturday landed inside the building than the 5-of-12 does.
Watson’s record in Cleveland is 9-10 across 19 starts, with 3,365 yards, 19 touchdowns and 12 interceptions since the 2022 trade. Monken planned to meet with his staff on Sunday and expects the quarterback call early this week, with the roster deadline following on Aug. 30. Both of those dates now sit in front of a decision that got wider on Saturday night than it looked a week ago.
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