Browns QB Deshaun Watson draws heat for refusal to change

Deshaun Watson of the Cleveland Browns raised eyebrows and also angered portions of the fan base when he said this week he does not want more designed quarterback run plays added to the offense amid his ongoing struggles because he is “not a running quarterback.” 

During Friday’s edition of the ESPN “First Take” program, host and analyst Elle Duncan blasted Watson over the signal-caller’s comments. 

“The unmitigated gall,” Duncan directly said, as shared by Hunter Hodies of The Spun, “for him to sit up there as incredulous as he was (saying), ‘I’m a throwing quarterback,’ when you’re not doing that particularly well for that amount of money. If they ask you to become a kicker, you need to start doing plyometrics.”

Duncan was referring to how the Browns signed Watson to a fully guaranteed five-year, $230M contract back in March 2022 and don’t have much to show for that deal. Watson missed the first 11 games of his debut Browns season while serving a suspension related to allegations of sexual misconduct during massage sessions and he made just six starts during the 2023 campaign before he was sidelined with a shoulder injury.

The 29-year-old now enters Week 4 of the current season as, statistically speaking, one of the NFL’s worst starting quarterbacks. According to Pro Football Reference, Watson began Friday ranked 30th in the league among qualified players with a 21.3 adjusted QBR and last with a 28.0% passing success rate for the campaign. 

Individuals such as ESPN’s Seth Walder and Conor Orr of Sports Illustrated suggested this week that head coach Kevin Stefanski should bench Watson in favor of backup Jameis Winston. There’s currently no indication Stefanski will go down that route anytime soon. 

“Based on how bad you are playing,” Duncan continued while speaking about Watson, “based on how unlikable you are right now with everything surrounding you, to sit there with that sort of arrogant ‘how dare you to expect me to be a different quarterback than what I am,’ you could have just not said the quiet part out loud. You could’ve just leaned on the fact that you are a guy who can scramble, which has always been your strong suit and not necessarily with designed runs, and left it there.”

Orr indicated in his piece that Browns ownership and/or general manager Andrew Berry could essentially push Stefanski to continue playing Watson due to the deal the three-time Pro Bowl selection inked over two years ago. If Watson produces a dud in this Sunday’s matchup at the 1-2 Las Vegas Raiders, though, Stefanski may have to turn to Winston if only to avoid losing other members of the locker room. 

As of Friday afternoon, DraftKings Sportsbook listed a Raiders team that was torched by Carolina Panthers veteran Andy Dalton last weekend as 1.5-point favorites against the Browns.