The\u00a0Cleveland Browns\u00a0may not need\u00a0Deshaun Watson\u00a0to be great for the team to succeed in 2024. In fact, they may not need Watson to be anything at all.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Two quarterbacks not named Watson have each had a better run with the franchise over the last two years, respectively \u2014\u00a0Jacoby Brissett\u00a0in 2022 and\u00a0Joe Flacco\u00a0in 2023. On Friday, February 23,\u00a0Aaron Schatz of ESPN\u00a0suggested a \u201cbold move,\u201d in which Cleveland signs one \u2014 if not both \u2014 to compete for the starting job with Watson this offseason.<\/p>\n

In 2022, Brissett had a 62.0 QBR while Watson had 40.4 QBR. Then last season, [Flacco]\u00a0had 48.3 QBR while Watson was below him at 42.9 QBR.<\/p>\n

The Browns need to bring in\u00a0competition and a backup plan in case Watson starts off 2024 playing subpar football again.<\/p>\n

Flacco has expressed a desire to continue his career despite his age (39), and Browns fans would be happy to see him back. Brissett\u2019s 2022 numbers stand out when we look at his career, but the Browns might as well sign him to a cheaper deal and see if they can make the magic happen again. Any of these options would at least protect the Browns and keep them from wasting another strong defense with bad play from Watson.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Browns Remain Committed to Deshaun Watson as Starter in 2024<\/h2>\n

<\/h2>\n

\n

Despite Flacco\u2019s late-season heroics, in which he led the team to a 4-1 record on the No. 5 seed in the AFC playoffs by averaging\u00a0well over 300 passing yards\u00a0per contest, head coach\u00a0Kevin Stefanski\u00a0was\u00a0quick to name Watson\u00a0the team\u2019s starter heading into the offseason.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s doing great in his rehab,\u201d\u00a0Stefanski said of Watson\u00a0on January 14 following the Browns\u2019 loss to the\u00a0Houston Texans\u00a0over Super Wildcard Weekend. \u201cI\u2019m confident he\u2019ll be ready to roll.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watson underwent season-ending surgery to repair his throwing shoulder in November 2023.\u00a0Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com reported earlier this week that the quarterback is on the cusp of a major milestone in his rehabilitation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201c[Watson] will begin throwing soon, a league source told Cleveland.com,\u201d Cabot wrote on February 19. \u201cWatson, who only had the fractured glenoid bone repaired and not his strained rotator cuff \u2026 returned to the UCLA weight room this week, which is a big step in his comeback bid.\u201d<\/p>\n

Browns Can\u2019t Afford to Waste Another Year of Elite Defense on Deshaun Watson\u2019s Struggles<\/h2>\n

<\/h2>\n

\n

Part of Watson\u2019s problem over his two years in Cleveland has been simple availability. He missed 11 games in 2022 due to an NFL suspension and missed 11 contests again last season due to injury.<\/p>\n

But even when Watson has been on the field, he hasn\u2019t been particularly good. He produced a QBR above 62 only once in six starts last year, while taking 17 sacks and throwing just 7 TD passes against 4 INTs. Watson completed less than 59% of his passes in four of those six games,\u00a0per ESPN.<\/p>\n

The Browns defense, despite getting routed by the Texans during the playoffs, was the\u00a0top-rated unit in the NFL in 2023 based on average yardage surrendered per game (270.2 yards).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The defense deserves a considerable amount of the credit for Watson\u2019s 5-1 mark as a starter in 2023 and is precisely the reason Schatz is advocating for a big move at QB in Cleveland this offseason \u2014 even if that means drafting another signal-caller in the middle rounds this April.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny of these options would at least protect the Browns and keep them from wasting another strong defense with bad play from Watson,\u201d Schatz wrote.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0Cleveland Browns\u00a0may not need\u00a0Deshaun Watson\u00a0to be great for the team to succeed in 2024. In fact, they may not need Watson to be anything at all. Two… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nfl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nflnhungn.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nflnhungn.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nflnhungn.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nflnhungn.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nflnhungn.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nflnhungn.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95272\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nflnhungn.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nflnhungn.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nflnhungn.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}