Deshaun Watson’s Comments May Impact Browns’ QB1 Decision

Sanders started the game against Buffalo, and in five first-half drives, he completed nine of 11 passes for 74 yards, a touchdown, and an interception. Watson, who started Cleveland’s preseason opener and completed 11 of 15 passes for 126 yards in that matchup, fared much worse in his second exhibition outing. In four second-half drives, Watson connected on five of 12 throws for 36 yards and a pick.

The Browns’ first preseason game was in Chicago, making Saturday the first time Watson had played a game at Cleveland’s Huntington Bank Field since he tore his right Achilles tendon in October 2024. That injury, together with the second rupture he suffered during the rehab process, sidelined Watson through the remainder of the 2024 season and the entirety of the 2025 campaign.

In his postgame comments on Saturday (those interested can watch the full presser here), Watson made it clear he is still disturbed by the cheers he heard from Cleveland fans on the day he suffered the career-altering injury.

“Last time I played on this field, I tore my Achilles, and that same fan base cheered when I got hurt,” Watson said (via ESPN’s Daniel Oyefusi). “So, what does that have to do with anything about performance? When a person gets hurt, especially in their own city, and they cheer.”

Watson was not cheered during his return to the Browns’ home turf on Saturday. Instead, as Oysefui details, he was met with boos when he entered the game in the second half and as he struggled throughout his time on the field. Watson took exception to that reaction as well.

“I think the whole world knows it has nothing to do about the performance,” he said. “It’s a little bit [more] personal than that. So I think it’s a disrespectful thing. So yeah, I mean, I’m going to keep whatever I feel with me and my family internally on how I feel about that. And yeah, just move on.”

Considering Watson’s off-field history, his use of the word “disrespectful” is unlikely to sit well with fans. And while he is not to blame for the club’s historically poor decision to acquire and extend him, the far-reaching impacts of that decision on the Browns’ roster do not make it any easier for their supporters to embrace him.

When asked if he would be able to overcome the fans’ attitude towards him, Watson replied, “I don’t know. I don’t know. It’s a mental battle every day. I feel like I get more love on road games than I do home games. So if it is my spot and [head coach Todd Monken] does make me the starter, maybe it’s 17 away games then. I don’t know” (via Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com). 

The Browns do open the 2026 regular season schedule with two straight road games, so as Cabot suggests, Monken could decide to anoint Watson the Week 1 starter and hope he plays well enough during that stretch to mitigate fan frustrations in advance of Week 3. The first-year HC had hoped to make a decision in the much-discussed Watson v. Sanders battle early this week, but Cabot believes Watson’s comments may have delayed that call yet again.

Cabot, like a number of other pundits – such as Albert Breer of SI.com and Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk – openly wonders whether Watson’s comments (along with his disappointing showing in the Bills game) will effectively eliminate any chance the soon-to-be 31-year-old has to start another game for the Browns. ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler was non-committal, though he did say Monken & Co. would have to consider the presser when making their QB1 decision (video link).

Florio even suggests Cleveland could do what the Texans did when they rostered an unhappy Watson in 2021 and pay him not to play. After all, moving on from Watson now would accelerate his full ~$86MM dead money charge onto the Browns’ 2027 books instead of allowing them to spread out that hit over the 2027-28 ledgers if they designate him a post-June 1 release after the ‘26 season (h/t Zac Jackson of The Athletic). Barring an unforeseen return to the level of play he exhibited during his halcyon days in Houston, the latter path has long seemed the most likely, even if Watson were to win the starting job this year.