Why Browns' Deshaun Watson reportedly aggravated teammates

It appears Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson irritated some teammates by not playing with a bruised throwing shoulder during this past Sunday's 28-3 home loss to the Baltimore Ravens. 

"He was adamant to everyone in the building he was going to play Sunday and the Browns took him at his word," Jason Lloyd of The Athletic said about Watson in a piece published Thursday. "Players I spoke to after the game were aggravated Watson didn’t play after he assured everyone all week he would."

Watson struggled through his pregame warmup before he was made inactive against Baltimore, and head coach Kevin Stefanski told reporters earlier this week the 28-year-old "knows his body" and "just did not feel like he had his full faculties." Dorian Thompson-Robinson largely looked like an unready rookie playing in Watson's place, as the fifth-round draft pick completed 19-of-36 passes for 121 yards with no touchdowns and three interceptions in the defeat that dropped Cleveland to 2-2 heading into the club's bye. 

"Had Watson simply said, 'This really hurts. I’ll do my best but I’m not sure,' I believe the week of preparation and the fallout from Watson not playing would have been much, much different," Lloyd wrote. 

Per Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk, Browns general manager Andrew Berry insisted on Wednesday that everyone involved was "optimistic" Watson would play against Baltimore until "it became obvious (during the pregame warmup) to all of us that he couldn’t throw or drive the ball well enough to perform in the game." Berry also said at that time he expects Watson will "be ready to go" when the Browns face the San Francisco 49ers at Cleveland Browns Stadium on Oct. 15. 

4-0 San Francisco hosts the 3-1 Dallas Cowboys this Sunday night. 

"Just because players were upset after the game doesn’t mean the season is over or they’ve turned on their quarterback, it means the messaging could have been better and should be in the future," Lloyd added. 

What's done is done, and the Browns will need everybody on the same page when they take on what may be the NFL's best team in Week 6.