![\"Deshaun](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-1621901818-e1775097368624.jpg\")
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Deshaun Watson #4 of the Cleveland Browns <\/p>\n
Though nothing has actually happened in terms of the makeup of the team, or even the hiring and firing of personnel with the Cleveland Browns<\/a>, it\u2019s been a pretty well-packed few days for the team. The GM made a strong denial of trade rumors for the best player in the league, the owner revered himself on his admission of a major mistake on the would-be star quarterback and the head coach (along with the aforementioned owner) indicated that the failed star quarterback might well be the favorite to get the job back.<\/p>\n It\u2019s all a symptom of the Browns\u2019 allergy to bringing in a\u00a0 competent and reliable quarterback, an affliction that has held back the franchise for decades now. The last effort was the trade for Deshaun Watson<\/a> and his subsequent signing to a guaranteed five-year contract at $235 million.<\/p>\n Watson, after two Achilles tendon surgeries that have sidelined him since October 2024, is in play as the starter for 2026, and is reportedly the favorite for the job. But then new head coach Todd Monken said something a bit odd about Watson.<\/p>\n Two Months, No Deshaun Watson Tape<\/p>\n Monken has been on the job for two months now, but according to ESPN\u2019s Daniel Oyefusi<\/a>, he has not dug into Watson\u2019s tape, despite weighing Watson as perhaps the leader for the Browns\u2019 QB1 job. Monken first mentioned that on Tuesday, and Oyefusi, to his credit, followed up with Monken on it.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s Monken\u2019s quote:<\/p>\n \u201cI just haven\u2019t drilled down into that. Have I watched a little bit of it? Of course, but there\u2019s also some aspects of it, so I would say this. We have crossover tape. Have I seen Deshaun Watson play before? Of course. I saw him play against us when I was in Baltimore Did we play the Cowboys<\/a> two years ago after Cleveland opened up the season with Dallas? Yes. Is that great film to watch Deshaun Watson on? Absolutely not. I mean, that was not a fun tape to watch. To try and look at that film and say, \u2018That\u2019s Deshaun Watson\u2019 is unfair.<\/p>\n \u201cSo I think you want a little bit, because I don\u2019t know the system they changed to when Ken Dorsey came in and what they were running. I don\u2019t know that. I don\u2019t know what they were asking him to do. Or the year before when the Browns came over and beat the Ravens<\/a> there. I don\u2019t know that. I just know what I\u2019ve seen over the years. I\u2019ve seen a really good football player. And we\u2019re hoping to be able to tap into that. I know he\u2019s excited and we\u2019re excited to work with him. Like we are with Dillon, like we are with Shedeur.\u201d<\/p>\n Deshaun Watson Tape Is Spotty<\/p>\n That\u2019s a lot of words, and there are two ways to look at Monken\u2019s answer if you\u2019re a Browns fan, or even if you\u2019re one of the three quarterbacks (with Shedeur Sanders<\/a> and Dillon Gabriel) on the roster.<\/p>\n The first is to see it from Monken\u2019s perspective. It\u2019s been 17 months since Watson was on the field as an NFL<\/a> quarterback, and he has had two surgeries on his Achilles tendon in the meantime. He is not going to be the same player he was in 2024, so what\u2019s the point of breaking down tape that is already old and irrelevant?<\/p>\n Monken mentioned \u201ccrossover tape,\u201d games he watched as the Ravens offensive coordinator. The included Watson leading a 33-31 win over the Ravens in 2023, and a drubbing Watson and the Browns took from the Cowboys in the 2024 opener\u2013a 33-17 loss in which Watson was 24-for-45 with 169 yards, two touchdowns and six sacks. It\u2019s not fait to judge Watson, good or bad, from those tapes, Monken is saying.<\/p>\n GettyBrowns coach Todd Monken.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Deshaun Watson Has Had Hard Times With the Browns<\/p>\n But still, in two months on the job, Monken did not watch any film on the guy who might be the Browns\u2019 starter again? Watson has started just 19 games in Cleveland, and they\u2019ve not gone particularly well\u2013he is 9-10 with a quarterback rating of 80.7<\/a> in his entire Browns career. He was 1-6 in 2024.<\/p>\n It would behoove Monken to at least watch how Watson looked, whether he sees anything that Watson was struggling with in particular, or a mechanical flaw\u2013something, anything.<\/p>\n Instead, Monken refers back to Watson\u2019s status as a \u201creally good football player\u201d he\u2019s seen \u201cover the years.\u201d But no, Watson has not been good as a football player, not unless you go back to to 2020. That\u2019s six years. There\u2019s film of Watson between then and now, and Monken probably should give it a look.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tSean Deveney<\/a> is a veteran sports reporter covering the NBA, NFL and MLB for Heavy.com. He has written for Heavy since 2019 and has more than two decades of experience covering the NBA, including 17 years as the lead NBA reporter for the Sporting News. Deveney is the author of 7 nonfiction books, including “Fun City,” “Before Wrigley became Wrigley,” and “Facing Michael Jordan.” More about Sean Deveney<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Browns\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Deshaun Watson #4 of the Cleveland Browns Though nothing has actually happened in terms of the makeup…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":848548,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2054],"tags":[86,85,54,2337,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-848547","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cleveland-browns","8":"tag-browns","9":"tag-cleveland","10":"tag-cleveland-browns","11":"tag-clevelandbrowns","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116333070206313264","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=848547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848547\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/848548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=848547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=848547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=848547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Cleveland](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2259234392-e1773062355181.jpg\")
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