The Cleveland Browns landed a player in the sixth round of the 2024 NFL Draft who appeared ready for a big role with the team. Nathaniel Watson joined the franchise as a run-stuffing linebacker which is something the roster lacked.
Watson is listed at 6-foot-2 and 233 pounds and while his specialty was in the run game, he turned heads in training camp when he ended one of the team's practices by picking off a pass from Tyler Huntley.
Bookie end zone INT on the last play of the day!! 😱@Nathaniel_ATH | #DawgPound pic.twitter.com/bwIIPBLaC0
— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) May 22, 2024
Watson has been active through the first two games of the season, but the Browns have yet to use him in their base defense. Instead, he has just 33 snaps — all on special teams. If he's going to log any more than that, he will first have to clear waivers and then be re-signed since he was waived on Thursday.
According to Mary Kay Cabot, the plan is to bring him back to the practice squad, but there are no guarantees that will happen since any team can put in a claim for Watson.
Cleveland made a similar move earlier in the year when they released David Bell a couple of days before the season opener. Bell cleared waivers and was brought back but his season ended when he suffered a hip injury in the win over the Jaguars.
It's still an interesting move to expose Watson to waivers when they're already thin at linebacker. Cleveland had to send Tony Fields II and Mohamoud Diabate to the IR, leaving them with Devin Bush, Winston Reid, and Khaleke Hudson behind starters Jordan Hicks and Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah.
