What the Browns are getting in Deshaun Watson

Unless you live under a rock, you know that the Cleveland Browns have recently given up the farm for Deshaun Watson. This trade may very well go down as the biggest in franchise history and the entire front office has their jobs on the line now moving forward.

Cleveland is giving up six draft selections including their first-round selections in the 2022, 2023, and 2024 NFL drafts, a third-round selection in 2023, and the fourth-round selections in 2022 and 2024. In exchange, they receive Watson and a sixth-round selection in 2024.

So to summarize, the Browns gave up three premium draft selections for a quarterback who didn’t play last season and may miss time next season, not due to injury, but due to serious legal issues. On top of that, the Browns gave him the largest guaranteed contract in NFL history. This feels like a bold move and one that I wouldn’t have taken, but that doesn’t matter now. Let’s dive into what he can do.

Positives

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Deshaun Watson was originally drafted by the Houston Texans with the 12th selection in the 2017 NFL Draft and he honestly may be the best pick in the franchise’s history.

Watson is without a doubt a bonafide franchise quarterback and in that sense, one can justify the desperate move by Cleveland to get such a difference-maker at such a key position.

Watson is easily a top ten dual-threat quarterback in the league and has proven he can sling it as evidenced by his league-leading 4,823 passing yards in 2020 and he also completed 70.2% of his passes that season. In the four seasons that Watson has actually played, he has tossed the rock for 14,539 passing yards.

Watson has that it factor to his game with legendary competitiveness to go with a big-game swagger that can elevate an entire team.

He is an intriguing and exciting dual-threat phenom that can end each play with six points on the scoreboard. Some traits are hard to measure and Watson has the intangibles and leadership ability that is needed for such an important position.

Watson checks so many boxes as far as what you look for in an NFL starter that finding negatives to his game is an extremely hard task.

Negatives

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Watson’s biggest issues are his off-the-field concerns and I don’t feel the need to go into too much detail with that as I assume you do not live under a rock. It also doesn’t help that he didn’t take a snap all last season, as it cannot be easy taking a full year off and jumping right back into the elite level everyone expects.

If we are taking on the field, Watson isn’t afraid to force throws as evidenced by his 33 interceptions in 2020. We also went on and on about his X-factor ability above and his elite intangibles.

(Editor’s Note: When he is scrambling, Watson often has the ball away from his body. Thankfully, his fumbles (30) are low for as much as he has the ball in his hands but it is a concern on film.)

There is a difference in his arm talent compared to Aaron Rodgers, but we are nit-picking at this point.

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