Deshaun Watson got real on the Browns-Steelers rivalry
When talking about the best rivalries in sports, usually it's matchups like Yankees vs Red Sox, Ohio State vs Michigan or Duke vs North Carolina that are brought up, but the Cleveland Browns have a historic rivalry with the Pittsburgh Steelers, and Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson declared that rivalry among the best in sports.
“Cleveland-Pittsburgh, for sure,” Deshaun Watson said on his podcast, according to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. “It's even bigger than Cincinnati. It's not Baltimore. Baltimore is up there, but it ain't as real as Pittsburgh.”
This is an interesting take from Watson, given that the Browns left for Baltimore to become the Ravens in 1996, before a new expansion franchise joined the league and the Browns returned to Cleveland in 1999. Given that history, there is a lot of bad blood between the two fanbases, especially on Cleveland's side. However, the Browns and Steelers do have a fierce rivalry, and Watson has experienced that since coming over from the Houston Texans.
The all-time series between the Browns and Steelers is at 81-63-1 in favor of Pittsburgh. A memorable game is in Week 2 last season, when the Browns had an opportunity to win on the road, but turnovers did them in and the Steelers were able to get the win, with TJ Watt making an impact. The Browns returned the favor later in the year, beating the Steelers 13-10. Both teams made the playoffs as wild card teams, but also lost.
The Steelers lost to the Buffalo Bills, while the Browns lost to the Houston Texans. Both teams had to go on the road due to the Ravens winning the AFC North division. The Cincinnati Bengals had a down year due to Joe Burrow's injuries. It goes to show how strong the AFC North is, as all four teams could be playoff contenders.
Deshaun Watson heading into critical year 3 with Browns
The Browns made a controversial move to bring in Watson, given the allegations he had from his days with the Houston Texans that resulted in an 11-game suspension in 2022. Still, they made the move to bring him in and give him a fully-guaranteed five-year, $230 million contract after giving up a lot of draft capital in the trade as well.
Watson has not lived up to expectations on the field, and he is headed into the third year of the contract. The Browns are essentially stuck with Watson for the next two seasons, so he needs to recapture his level of play from when he was with the Texans. The next three years, Watson is set to have a $63.7 million cap hit, according to Spotrac. The dead cap hit if he is released this year would be just over $200 million, and it would be over $136 million in 2025. The last year of the contract in 2026, it would be more palatable, but still would be over $72 million in dead cap to release Watson.
Needless to say, the Browns need Watson to perform at an elite level to get to where they want to go.
