From Nick Cosellian (@nick_cosellian):
Nick, I agree. It’s easy to forget now—and I understand why people have—but the narrative on Deshaun Watson coming out of his last full season, 2020, was much different than what it is now. At that point, perception held that he’d performed very admirably through a mess of a calendar year in which coach Bill O’Brien got more control over the roster, was overtaken in that department by EVP Jack Easterby, with O’Brien then ousted at midseason.
Those numbers above that Nick gave us are from that year, and in the aftermath of DeAndre Hopkins being dealt to Arizona. It also happened after Watson got a four-year, $160 million extension, so there was plenty of pressure on the quarterback to deliver as he did.
Watson missed the entire 2021 season, was suspended for the first 11 games of the ’22 season for violating the league’s personal-conduct policy, playing in only six games. In the latter circumstance, Browns coach Kevin Stefanski had to build an offense that worked for Watson, but also for Jacoby Brissett and the other 10 guys in the huddle, while simultaneously preparing both to play last summer. What resulted was a very weird year, which ended with Watson playing in a scheme that proved to be imperfect for him.
The lessons the coaches will take from that, I think, really count for a lot. My expectation is Stefanski and his offensive staff will unveil something, in a few months, that’s a lot more geared to what Watson does well—O’Brien did the same thing for the quarterback in Houston, borrowing some offensive concepts from Clemson to get Watson going early in his career. And that, with the talent on hand, should be enough to get Watson back to where he was in Houston, where, at one point, he was seen as toe-to-toe with Patrick Mahomes as a player.
For that reason, while I’m not sure I’d pick Cleveland to make the playoffs right now, I sure wouldn’t be shocked if the Browns are one of the seven teams standing from the AFC come January.
