There are a lot of important NFL games this weekend, with the season winding down and the playoff races starting to shape up. This time of year seems to be when the games become more interesting, as there is far more of a sense of urgency.
The one game that is rather meaningless in the grand scheme of things is Browns-Texans, as neither team is in the playoff hunt. I guess I should qualify that and say the Browns are not mathematically eliminated and could still crawl back into the playoff hunt with a miracle run, but that doesn't seem likely.
Still, this Browns-Texans game will be one of the most talked about games of the weekend. It will also be one of the games many people, even casual fans, will keep an eye on because of the storyline that it presents.
Deshaun Watson was clearly rising as one of the elite young quarterbacks in the NFL before legal issues derailed his career. The 12th overall pick of the 2017 draft after an incredible career at Clemson, Watson established himself as a superstar by his second season in Houston.
Watson threw for 4,165 yards, 26 touchdowns and nine interceptions and ran for another 551 yards and five touchdowns in his first full season as a starter, 2018. The ultimate dual-threat weapon, Watson had similar seasons in 2019 and 2020, and in 2018 and 2019 he led the Texans to back-to-back AFC South division titles.
His legal troubles began early in 2021 and mounted as he was accused by a total of 30 massage therapists of touching them inappropriately and various other forms of sexual assault. He sat out the 2021 season as all of the legal issues needed to get resolved, and he was demanding a trade from the Texans.
Then earlier this year, he was traded to Cleveland for a boatload of picks and the Browns gave him a fully guaranteed, five-year, $230 million contract. There were never any criminal charges brought in any of the cases, and 26 of the 30 accepted a financial settlement in the lawsuits, and that's a large reason why Watson was able to make the case he should be able to play in the NFL this season.
The NFL suspended him for 11 games and fined him $5 million, and that brings us to Sunday, as Watson will make his debut against his old team in the city where all of his legal troubles took place.
It no doubt will be a bit of a circus atmosphere, as the game has already generated plenty of buzz. At least 10 of the victims have said they will go to the game, several women's groups have said they will protest the game, and there is no doubt going to be some other backlash from other circles. And all of that is understandable.
What Watson is accused of deserves this kind of scrutiny and scorn, but I disagree with the idea that he should never be allowed to play football again. He wasn't brought up on criminal charges and he has a right to make a living. He should get the same second chance afforded to many others before him.
I don't know what is right or wrong in terms of his suspension, and I don't even know if I am up for a debate about whether he should be punished further and how long this should follow him. Quite frankly, I don't have a lot of interest in that side of the discussion because there are many more people willing to engage in it.
The more interesting discussion, to me, is about his ability to play. The Browns have gone way out on a limb by giving him a fully guaranteed deal, but my question is, can the guy play anymore or not?
It is easy to say "he is young and rested," but he hasn't played a game in two years. That is a significant time to take off from any profession, but especially a professional sport.
There will be a lot of rust that he has to knock off, and how much and how long it takes him to knock it off will go a long way toward telling us if the Browns made a good move or not. There are many who think the Browns overpaid for Watson, that he won't ever be the star he was before his hiatus, and that the Browns are going to look foolish.
My guess is Watson will struggle at first but use these last six games to find his groove again. And then next year, with a full offseason absent of the distractions and legal issues, he will put the Browns back into the AFC North discussion.
If he does, then all of this will have been worth it. But if he doesn't — as the author of this article suggests he might not (his main point is the game has changed in two or three years, and RPO offenses with running quarterbacks are no longer unique or rare and that was some of Watson's edge in Houston) — it will go down as one of the worst trades and contracts in sports history. Yes, not just NFL history — sports history. The deal is fully guaranteed the Browns will have to eat it all.
The Browns play the Texans on Sunday and that marks the start of an era for them that is either going to be boom or bust, and all of it hinges on whether or not Watson is the star player they are banking on him being.
