We are less than three weeks away from the Week 1 matchup between the Cleveland Browns and Dallas Cowboys, and quarterback Deshaun Watson is still missing practice time.
Ending his season with a shoulder injury that required surgery, Watson was eased back into throwing full-time throughout the offseason. He ramped up to full-time this summer during training camp, participating fully in the joint practices against the Minnesota Vikings.
However, Watson has not played throughout the first two preseason games. Head coach Kevin Stefanski has stated that his plan is for Watson to play in the preseason finale against the Seattle Seahawks but will wait for all of the information to come in before making his final decision.
Now, however, Watson missed a portion of the last day of training camp on Wednesday with what Stefanski describes as “general arm soreness.” It is worth mentioning that the shoulder of Watson was not mentioned as the reason why, but now this questions whether or not we will see Watson at all in the preseason.
It is worth noting that Watson did throw during other portions of practice and did not miss the whole practice. However, it was backup Jameis Winston who took all of the first-team snaps during the 11-on-11 portion of practice. This is typically the portion of practice that is as full-go as it gets.
If Stefanski is taking in all of the information, and the Browns are missing every offensive tackle with starting experience, and Watson is still missing time with “general arm soreness,” then it might be an educated guess to say Watson will not play a snap of live action football until the Cowboys come to town.
Either way, it is less than ideal for the starting quarterback to still be missing chunks of practice. Hopefully, this does not carry into the regular season and history does not repeat itself in 2024.
But hey, that’s why you go out and get the best backup quarterback on the market.
