Ever since landing Deshaun Watson in 2022, the Cleveland Browns have been waiting. They waited to find out the length of his suspension which ended up being 11 games. They then waited for him to return to the field, which led to more waiting.
Once Watson was back in action, the wait shifted to watching for the rust to fall off. After a year and a half away from the game, it only made sense Watson would need to knock off the cobwebs. Unfortunately, that never happened in 2022, so they waited for 2023.
Again, rust was cited as a factor as Watson struggled with consistency early in the season. Once it appeared he finally started to fire on all cylinders, he was sent to the IR with a shoulder injury and we were all waiting again.
Heading into 2024, Cleveland GM Andrew Berry doesn't expect to wait anymore. Instead, he believes Watson and the offense will “hit the ground running” now that he's working his way back to full health.
"We do expect to hit the ground running on that side of the ball, and I know he is very excited about returning to the playing field and getting over this injury. We do have high expectations for him and the offense this season."
Lost in all the injury news surrounding Watson is the record the team had with him under center. They were technically 5-1 with him as the starter but in reality, they were 4-1 since he only threw five passes in their win over the Indianapolis Colts.
Even that, however, is the same record they had with Joe Flacco as the starter. Watson even led them to a comeback win over the No. 1 seed Baltimore Ravens in his last appearance.
That's why Berry believes the team will be ready to roll as soon as the season begins. Now, we just have to wait and see if he's correct.
