The end of the season for quarterback Deshaun Watson puts the Cleveland Browns in a self-inflicted predicament in the NFL. They are now paying the price for at least one bad decision in the recent past and rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson has to pay for it. It is questionable whether he is ready for this.
In the NFL, everything can happen very quickly. The Cleveland Browns can currently tell a thing or two about this. Deshaun Watson had just made a brilliant comeback against the Baltimore Ravens and actually looked for the first time in the Browns’ service like the former playmaker he was with the Houston Texans until 2020, and now he is out for the rest of the season with a serious shoulder injury out of.
Of course, you have to start asking yourself whether it was really such a good idea for the Browns to pay an exorbitantly high price for Watson, which was actually unbearable and, above all, difficult to place due to the allegations against him.
And yet the Browns ultimately outsold the competition with a fully guaranteed record contract over five years and $230 million. In addition to a trade package that included three first-round picks, one third-round pick and two fourth-round picks – of which one first-round pick and one fourth-round pick are still outstanding in 2024.
The structure of the contract also rules out an early separation, because next year there would be around $200 million in dead money – the total cap is currently estimated at around $256 million for 2024…
The returns for this have so far been rather manageable. After missing the first 11 games of his debut season in Cleveland due to a suspension for serious sexual assault allegations against him, Watson didn’t seem like he had arrived yet. 2022 was already a lost year because, as expected, the Browns didn’t pull out too many trees with the solid backup QB Jacoby Brissett at the helm. 2023, however, should be attacked again.
And one has to at least state that Watson only lost one start – he rarely played really well, but did enough not to get in the way of his own impressive defense. The problem with this view: Watson has already missed three starts with injuries and will now miss the rest of the season. The bottom line is that the Browns are paying him $92 million for twelve games for his first two years of the contract, of which he won eight.
Browns: Now rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson has to play
Because of this situation, rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson, a fifth-round pick from UCLA, is once again thrown into the deep end. It will be his second start against the Pittsburgh Steelers in week 11 (from 6:15 p.m. live on RTL+), after he had to start spontaneously in week 4 against Baltimore – despite his own positive prognosis, Watson was unable to play due to a shoulder injury – and was completely overwhelmed. He threw for 121 yards and three interceptions.
So why should things go better against a fearsome Steelers defense, especially since even Watson had already lost against that defense in Week 2? The Browns now point out that DTR has a whole week of training available this time – in the NFL it usually starts on Wednesday for a Sunday game – and is training well anyway.
Head coach Kevin Stefanski noted that the rookie even got a game ball for the win over Baltimore the previous week because he stepped in as a Lamar Jackson imitation in the scout team during training and prepared his defense perfectly.
The exciting question now, however, is whether this can also be transferred to a real game. The only really good performance from DTR so far was in the preseason. Against Washington, he particularly impressed with his athleticism and speed, and also presented himself as a strong passer. He also performed very well in the Hall of Fame Game a week earlier. However, in both games it was only against backups.
In an emergency he would be overwhelmed. Against the Ravens in Week 4, he held the ball too long and recorded four sacks on 19 pressures. His passes were inaccurate (-9.8 CPOE) and he also had five turnover-worthy plays, which is a no-go, especially on a team like the Browns.
Due to the strong defense, a decent game manager might even be enough here. In other words, someone who minimizes risks and, above all, hardly makes any mistakes. Giving the ball away frequently doesn’t help much, especially since your own defense can only be a factor if the offense shows at least the bare minimum of competence.
Browns: DTR only a threat on the floor
Against the Steelers it will be important to avoid the dangerous pass rush. And you can assume that the opponent will be keen not to let DTR break out of the pocket because he already poses a great danger with his legs. His arm, or rather his head, is more of a problem.
Nevertheless, DTR is now being trusted after he was moved back to the second or third rank as a result of his weak debut and hiking man PJ Walker took over Watson’s other two missed starts. He wasn’t particularly good either, but he surprisingly won against the 49ers because kicker Jake Moody missed a late field goal.
Realistically, the Browns don’t have a legitimate backup behind Watson on the roster. And that is definitely a mistake on the part of the management, because while last year they were still in a respectable position with Brissett, this year they relied entirely on Watson and probably tried to save money in this way. In view of around 33 million in cap space, this is a very strange decision.
Particularly bitter: In training camp, the Browns still had a certain Joshua Dobbs in the squad, whom they traded to the Cardinals in August – he is now hovering over Minnesota as a “passtronaut” and is in the process of saving the Vikings’ season.
And so the second year of the unique contract with Watson threatens to be a lost one, because while one can still have hopes for the playoffs given the manageable remaining schedule, it should be over in round 1 at the latest. However, anyone who invests such enormous resources in an outside quarterback probably has higher standards.
Marcus Blumberg