Even after owner Jimmy Haslam admitted the trade for DeShaun Watson was a failure, the Cleveland Browns are returning to Watson as their 2026 starter. The fanbase isn’t happy about it. NFL execs watching from afar can’t make sense of it, either.
Mike Sando’s recent article for The Athletic received summaries of each AFC team. The Pittsburgh Steelers faced their own criticism but NFL executives grilled the Browns for the decision.
“They doubled down on toxic,” an exec told Sando. “I don’t know how anybody can think they are headed in the right direction.”
Watson was the favorite to win the job throughout the summer, but a shaky preseason showing against the Buffalo Bills and controversial ensuing press conference cast doubt on the notion. Still, first-year head coach Todd Monken opted to start Watson over second-year quarterback Shedeur Sanders.
In the executives’ ranking, the Browns finished 15th. The Steelers finished 10th.
Watson presumably doesn’t have much margin for error. If anything, opening the season with two road games might be a positive for a home crowd hostile to him. Watson will need to play well and engineer victory immediately for a Browns’ franchise that’s won just eight games over the past two seasons combined.
Many believe ownership played a role in the team’s decision. Watson’s contract was worth a fully guaranteed $230 million. The Browns, left with few good options, opted to get anything left from Watson. That’s despite Haslam in 2025 acknowledging his bold trade for Watson crashed and burned.
“We took a big swing and miss with Deshaun,” Haslam said via NFL.com through Cleveland.com in March of 2025. “We thought we had the quarterback, we didn’t and we gave up a lot of draft picks to get him. So we’ve got to dig ourselves out of that hole.”
Instead, the Browns are choosing to keep on digging. The team’s long-term answer is likely off the roster, and Cleveland could enter 2027 picking early in a potentially fertile quarterback class.
