![\"Cleveland](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-1776876913-e1775555675848.jpg\")
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson will be part of the competition for the starting role.<\/p>\n
Deshaun Watson is officially ready to go.<\/p>\n
The Cleveland Browns<\/a> quarterback has arrived in Berea for the start of the team\u2019s voluntary offseason workout program<\/a>, and he made his intentions clear before setting foot on the field.<\/p>\n Watson posted a video on TikTok of himself strapping on his Browns helmet, captioning it with a two-word message: \u201cLock in.\u201d<\/p>\n Watson has not played since October 2024, when he suffered a torn Achilles tendon<\/a> and later required a second surgery after re-rupturing it in January 2025. The coming season represents his most significant \u2014 and likely last \u2014 opportunity yet to prove he can still be a viable starting option.<\/p>\n Watson has appeared in just 19 games since arriving in Cleveland via a blockbuster 2022 trade, sidelined by a season-ending shoulder injury, an 11-game suspension stemming from off-field issues, and now the twice-ruptured Achilles. He\u2019s heading into the final year of his fully guaranteed $230 million deal<\/a>.<\/p>\n Deshaun Watson Prepared With Browns Receivers<\/p>\n Days before the offseason program began, Watson was spotted working out<\/a> with multiple Browns receivers in Florida \u2014 including Jerry Jeudy, Isaiah Bond and Jamari Thrash \u2014 per Daniel Oyefusi of ESPN<\/a>.<\/p>\n Watson may still carry the weight of what Jimmy Haslam once called a \u201cbig swing and miss,\u201d<\/a> but the Browns owner is now striking a noticeably more optimistic tone as the team heads into the offseason program.<\/p>\n \u201cDeshaun has a great chance \u2014 a fresh start, an offensive-minded coach who has, in his past, been able to work with all kinds of different quarterbacks and make them successful,\u201d Haslam said<\/a>. \u201cSo Deshaun has a great chance to do that now. We talked to him the other day. He said he weighed less than he had in several years, was in great shape. He\u2019ll be here on April 7 when we start the offseason program and let\u2019s see what Deshaun can do. We\u2019re all excited.\u201d<\/p>\n Deshaun Watson Faces Legit Challenge From Sanders for QB1<\/p>\n The competition is a three-man race on paper, but the field has effectively narrowed. Shedeur Sanders is the likely frontrunner<\/a> after going 3-4 across seven starts as a rookie last season, completing 56.6 percent of his passes for 1,400 yards, seven touchdowns and 10 interceptions.<\/p>\n Dillon Gabriel also remains on the roster but isn\u2019t expected to factor heavily<\/a> into the starting QB battle.<\/p>\n Browns new head coach, Todd Monken, has maintained that the competition is open. However, the reps will not be distributed equally.<\/p>\n \u201cI wouldn\u2019t say they\u2019re going to be evenly dispersed, but we\u2019ll definitely disperse them to give ourselves a chance to at least evaluate who we have on the roster, whoever that might be as we go through the offseason,\u201d Monken said<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Browns should expect to see a motivated Watson fighting for his future. General manager Andrew Berry hinted that the Browns would be open to an extension<\/a> if Watson turns out to be the answer under center.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no rule against extending the player\u2019s contract if they perform and they do well,\u201d Berry said<\/a>. \u201cSo I wouldn\u2019t necessarily box it into any one approach. It really will be performance-based.\u201d<\/p>\n The Browns could further crowd the quarterback room through the draft, where Cleveland holds two first-round picks<\/a> at Nos. 6 and 24.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tJ.R. DeGroote<\/a> JR DeGroote is a staff writer for Heavy.com, where he has covered the NFL, NBA, and trending sports stories since 2019. His work focuses on some of the most passionate fanbases in sports, including reporting on the Cleveland Browns, Dallas Cowboys and Los Angeles Lakers. More about J.R. DeGroote<\/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 Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson will be part of the competition for the starting role. Deshaun Watson…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":858792,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2054],"tags":[86,85,54,2337,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-858791","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":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858791","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=858791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858791\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/858792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=858791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=858791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=858791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}