Football - though often a chaotic game - tries its best to do things in an orderly fashion. So it is with the Houston Texans, the Cleveland Browns and Deshaun Watson.
The lowly Texans (1-8-1) have a Week 12 game to play, are shuffling QBs from Davis Mills to Kyle Allen, and are massive underdogs in it as they oppose the Miami Dolphins. The Browns are also occupied this week with a meeting with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
But - at the risk of looking at things out of order - on the horizon is Week 13, Browns at Texans ... and a circle-the-date meeting.
With Deshaun Watson at QB for the visiting Browns at NRG Stadium.
Tom Pelissero of NFL Network notes that since being reinstated to practice, Watson "has spent the past two weeks in workouts mostly impersonating Josh Allen and Tom Brady on the Cleveland Browns' scout team.''
But there have also been ramp-up opportunities, NFL Network writes - "a rep here and there with the first string, on the side with receivers, in meetings with coaches'' - when Watson has been putting in the work that the Browns hope will have him ready to go on Dec. 4 against his old team in Houston.
That's always been the plan from the start of his 11-game suspension for violating the league's personal-conduct policy. But while the NFL no longer has hoops for him to jump through, there is still a matter of game-day readiness. Watson, the three-time Pro Bowler, hasn't played in two years after having clashed with Texans management, then finding himself as the plaintiff in almost two dozen sexual-misconduct lawsuits against him, and finally being granted a trade to Cleveland that netted Houston a huge package of draft picks, including first-rounders in the 2022, 2023 and 2024 drafts ...
While also netting Watson an unprecedented new five-year contract worth $230 million fully guaranteed.
When will the deal pay off for Houston? All the picks need to be cashed in and most of them need to work out.
When will the deal pay off for Cleveland? The Browns, with Jacoby Brissett at QB, are off to 3-7 start entering today's game against Brady and the Buccaneers. So an immediate turnaround seems unlikely.
When can some immediate judgments be made? Assuming Deshaun Watson is ready, when the Browns visit the Texans at NRG Stadium on Dec. 4.
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