The Cleveland Browns might not ever admit that the Deshaun Watson trade and contract were horrible ideas. They might not have to.
The Cleveland Browns absolutely should be in reflection mode. Reflection mode about everything that went wrong this season, and whatever they can do to promote health and safety within the organization.
Now, some of that is silly reflection, like how to avoid injuries - to an extent.
The Browns have been plagued by injuries all season long, going back to training camp, and that's affected their ability to be competitive all year. But so have other teams in the league, who have continued to find fill-in players through trades and free agency and have remained competitive. See the Kansas City Chiefs.
Maybe the biggest injury to strike the Browns this season is quarterback Deshaun Watson, who once again, is lost for the season - further contributing to the theory that the trade that brought him to Cleveland is one of the worst in history.
But the guy who facilitated the trade, Cleveland general manager Andrew Berry, has yet to concede anything close to that.
“I’m really not in reflection mode,” Berry told reporters. "[I]t’s not really my focus at this point in the year. Our focus is really on finishing out the 2024 season, having the team play at a higher level, and then kind of we’ll get to those maybe longer term or big picture reflections at a later point in time.”
Berry won't even acknowledge if the trade was his idea or if it came from higher up in the organization.
"Like we’ve always said, all of us were on board,” Berry said. “Everyone’s on board and obviously with a big commitment in that regard, that’s always going to be the case.”
The Browns still owe Watson a guaranteed $92 million through 2026, with ridiculous cap hits. They owe the former Pro Bowler $72 million in 2025, $72 million in 2026, and $26.9 million in 2027 after the contract expires.
It's too early to tell if Watson will return as the starting quarterback for the Browns when he recovers from the Achilles injury that sidelined him this season. The public outcry to bench Watson has been loud this season, but Berry says he won't be intimidated by the fans.
“So, first and foremost, we love our fans,” Berry said. “We know that they’re passionate and they love the team. As we make decisions organizationally, it’ll always be within what we think is within the best interest of the franchise. And some of those will be popular, some of those will be unpopular. But that’s really the way that we’ll navigate it.”
The fact remains, because of the money owed to him, Watson could very well return as the starter for another couple of seasons, assuming he's healthy.
And it's all because of the fully guaranteed contract - which begs the question: What was worse, the trade that brought Watson to Cleveland or the contract offered to him after he got here?
