Browns Digest

National Outlet Ranks Browns' Deshaun Watson As Bottom Ten NFL QB

The NFL offseason always comes with quarterback rankings and debates and one outlet's list puts Browns signal caller Deshaun Watson among some of the worst starting QBs in the league.

Spencer German

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Deshaun Watson used to be a consensus top 10 quarterback in the NFL.

After appearing in just 12 games since being traded to the Browns nearly two years ago, Watson's status as a premier quarterback has taken a hit. Watson served an 11-game suspension in 2022 – his first year in Cleveland – then went on to appear in six games throwing for 1,102 yards, seven touchdowns and five interceptions.

That paved the way for 2023 was to be a bounce back season for the 28-year-old, but multiple shoulder injuries derailed his season, as he spent the last seven weeks of the season on the IR. Watson threw for 1,115 yards, seven touchdowns and five interceptions before the glenoid fracture in his throwing shoulder.

Going into 2024, Watson hasn't played a full season in three years, which leaves plenty of pundits doubting his ability to ever get back to being the elite QB he was with the Houston Texans early in his career. 

With that in mind, various outlets will release their quarterback ranking lists this offseason and one of the first of 2024 came from The 33rd Team this week. On it, Watson appeared as one of the bottom six quarterbacks in the NFL.

Watson certainly has a lot to prove in 2024 going into the third year of his five year deal with Cleveland. It remains to be seen if the fracture in his throwing shoulder will  impact his play at all, but in his last update via the QB Unplugged podcast, he explained that's on schedule to begin throwing the football later this spring. 

When the Browns made the trade for Watson back in March 2022 they sought a solution to the franchise quarterback question that eluded them for so long. To this point, unfortunate circumstances have prevented Watson from realizing his full potential with Cleveland.

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Spencer German
SPENCER GERMAN

Spencer German is a contributor to the Northeast Ohio cluster of sites, including Cavs Insider, Cleveland Baseball Insider and most notably Browns Digest. He also works as a fill-in host on Cleveland Sports Radio, 92.3 The Fan, one of the Browns radio affiliate stations in Cleveland. Despite being a Cleveland transplant, Spencer has enjoyed making Northeast Ohio home ever since he attended college locally at John Carroll University, where he graduated in 2013.

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