Potential scenario for Browns activating Deshaun Watson this season revealed

"If you get to the trade deadline," Cabot said during the segment, "and you like what you see from [Gabriel], and somebody comes calling for Joe Flacco, do you maybe think about putting [Watson] back on the roster as your backup and let Dillon play out the season and Shedeur play out the season but keep [Watson] as that one-play-away guy?"

As of Thursday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook had the Browns at +950 betting underdogs to make the playoffs this season. No team had worse odds at that time, which says a lot about what league insiders think Cleveland's record will be when it enters its Week 9 bye shortly before the NFL trade deadline on Nov. 4. 

Gabriel will serve as the Browns' QB2 for their regular-season opener against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sept. 7. Meanwhile, Berry and Stefanski may view Sanders as a developmental project who won't be ready to face a live defense in a meaningful game before 2026. 

Assuming Watson gets medically cleared to play this fall, he could essentially force the Browns to either release him or shift him to the 53-man roster. Having him as a post-trade-deadline option would allow Cleveland to keep Sanders sidelined if the Browns trade Flacco but then lose Gabriel to an injury. 

In short, it sounds like the Browns haven't closed the door on playing Watson this season, despite Haslam acknowledging earlier this year that the franchise "took a big swing and miss" when it signed the 29-year-old to a fully guaranteed five-year, $230M contract in March 2022.