{"id":872322,"date":"2026-04-23T01:18:24","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T01:18:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/872322\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T01:18:24","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T01:18:24","slug":"browns-hammered-for-protecting-deshaun-watson-over-fallout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/872322\/","title":{"rendered":"Browns Hammered for ‘Protecting’ Deshaun Watson Over Fallout"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"Cleveland\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson.<\/p>\n

The Cleveland Browns<\/a>\u2018 entire tenure with quarterback Deshaun Watson<\/a> is a bonafide study in how to royally screw up an NFL<\/a> franchise.<\/p>\n

After making perhaps the worst trade in league history by sending the Houston Texans<\/a> three first-rounders and three mid-rounders in trade for Watson \u2014 who ended up accused of more than two dozen incidents of sexual misconduct and lost 11 games to a league suspension to start his career in Cleveland \u2014 the Browns then gave him the worst contract perhaps ever: five years and $230 million<\/a>, all of it fully guaranteed.<\/p>\n

Based on annual average salary, Cleveland has paid the embattled and oft-injured signal-caller nearly $10 million per start through four seasons and gotten a 9-10 record<\/a> out of it.<\/p>\n

Cue the biggest YIKES! of all freakin\u2019 time.<\/p>\n

But, because it\u2019s the Browns, the nonsense refuses to stop even there. Cleveland sports radio exploded with criticism of both the organization and Watson after the team did not make him available to reporters on Tuesday, April 21.<\/p>\n

The Browns are in the midst of a minicamp, and both Shedeur Sanders<\/a> and Dillon Gabriel<\/a> spoke extensively with media. But Watson, who has missed another year and a half with a twice-torn Achilles, was nowhere to be seen or heard.<\/p>\n

Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated offered the most measured take on the reality of the situation Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think, to some degree, it feels like that relationship between the media, the city and Deshaun has been broken a little bit, [and] I think there\u2019s an opportunity to rebuild that now,\u201d Breer said<\/a>. \u201cI do think he can make his life easier if he starts to rebuild some of those relationships.\u201d<\/p>\n

Browns QBs Shedeur Sanders, Dillon Gabriel Spoke With Reporters This Week\"Cleveland<\/p>\n

GettyCleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, the cacophony of critiques reached a splintering volume, as indignant fans and media members questioned what Cleveland brass is thinking by \u201cprotecting\u201d Watson from the public.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Browns were protecting Deshaun Watson for whatever reason yesterday,\u201d Jonathan Peterlin of \u201c92.3 The Fan\u201d said Wednesday<\/a>. \u201cBut now you\u2019re telling me it\u2019s a month from now [until he speaks to media]? What the hell was everyone talking about?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAt some point, you have to face the music and get out in front of everybody,\u201d he continued. \u201cIt\u2019s embarrassing, is what it is. \u2026 Bad job by the Browns if they thought to themselves, \u2018Dillon Gabriel<\/a> and Shedeur Sanders, those are the only two quarterbacks that we need to hear from.\u2019 How dense can you be to think that was their response? There\u2019s no way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Browns Brass Making Deshaun Watson Situation Worse\"Cleveland<\/p>\n

GettyCleveland Browns GM Andrew Berry (left) and head coach Todd Monken (center).<\/p>\n

That Watson has a real chance to reclaim the starting role in the final year of his albatross of a contract has added fuel to the fire in Cleveland, where it will be a surprise if the franchise pursues a rookie QB in the opening round of the NFL draft tomorrow who can legitimately compete with Sanders and Watson for the top job.<\/p>\n

With Fernando Mendoza<\/a> a lock to go No. 1 to the Las Vegas Raiders<\/a>, the only option is going to be Ty Simpson<\/a> of Alabama<\/a>. After that, it could be well into Round 3 before draft announcers call another quarterback\u2019s name.<\/p>\n

The Browns are rumored to be a strong trade candidate in Round 1 and currently hold two firsts (Nos. 6 and 24<\/a>), the latter of which might prove a reasonable range for Simpson.<\/p>\n

However, most mocks and reports from team and league insiders indicate that Cleveland is going to try to amass more capital by moving around the board in Round 1, but is ultimately looking to fill major roster gaps at left tackle and wide receiver early in the proceedings.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tMax Dible<\/a> covers the NFL, NBA and MLB for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, Chicago Bears and Cleveland Browns. He covered local and statewide news as a reporter for West Hawaii Today and served as news director for BigIslandNow.com and Pacific Media Group’s family of Big Island radio stations before joining Heavy. More about Max Dible<\/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. The Cleveland Browns\u2018 entire tenure with quarterback Deshaun Watson is a bonafide…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":872323,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2054],"tags":[86,85,54,2337,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-872322","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\/116451391863040329","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872322","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=872322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872322\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/872323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=872322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=872322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=872322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}