As Browns prepare for Patrick Mahomes' Chiefs, Deshaun Watson wants to 'keep adding on'

BEREA — The quarterback matchup between the Browns and Chiefs may or may not start out on Saturday afternoon as Deshaun Watson against Patrick Mahomes. That's all up to Kansas City coach Andy Reid's discretion.

The Browns quarterback, though, didn't need a random preseason game to find himself in the same sentence as Mahomes. That happened naturally when the two were members of the quarterback draft class of 2017, when Mahomes was taken No. 10 overall and Watson was selected No. 12.

Since then, Mahomes has gone on to win two Super Bowls and two NFL Most Valuable Player awards. He's also set the bar so high that even his fellow 2017 draftee admits everyone else is trying to reach it.

"I mean he's doing a hell of a job and you’ve got to give him credit, you’ve got to nothing but salute to him and what he's been doing and what he's going to continue to do," Watson said Wednesday of Mahomes. "He just makes everyone else around him better. So he's definitely the standard for the NFL and you’ve just got to continue to just keep building that up, especially being in the 2017 draft class together. … So both of us have a lot to prove and we want to continue to just show that we’re one of the top — us two — classes that have been drafted."

That's where the onus falls to Watson. Now in his second year with his second team, having been traded to the Browns from the Houston Texans 18 months ago, he's looking to regain the form that made him one of the league's top quarterbacks between 2018-20.

Over the last two-plus years, Watson has fallen from that status, at least in the eyes of those outside of the Browns organization. There was the way things ended in Houston, with a trade dispute and more than two dozen allegations through the legal system by women of sexual assault and sexual misconduct during massage appointments.

It didn't start much better with the Browns, with an 11-game league suspension from those allegations. Once Watson got on the field, the effect of 700 days off showed itself in his six-game run as the starting quarterback.

That's all water under the bridge to Watson as he heads to Kansas City for his last chance Saturday to tune up for the regular season. Whether it's Mahomes or where he's viewed in relations to the Chiefs star — or any of the other quarterbacks in the league — it's all secondary in his mind.

"If you’re asking me, I haven't played ball, I haven't played enough football the last two years to even be up there," Watson said. "So I’ve got to go out there and prove and show what I’ve got to do to get back in those conversations. But for me, I’ve just got to lock in on what I need to lock in on and just focus on my tasks, and everything else will take care of itself."

That's why Saturday holds a little extra meaning for Watson and the Browns. Whether Mahomes or any of the Chiefs offensive starters play is irrelevant to the progress they need to see for themselves from their only other preseason action, one eight-play drive to open the second exhibition game against the Washington Commanders.

Watson was 3-for-3 passing on that drive for 12 yards. He also ran three times for 20 yards.

However, the drive, which got down to the Washington 1, did not result in points. But, on top of the work most of the Browns regulars got during two joint practices with the Philadelphia Eagles, it has provided some idea of where not just Watson but the entire offense is with just over two weeks until the season opener.

"I think the biggest thing is just keep adding on, keep taking a step each and every day because we know we're not all the way there yet and we shouldn't be," Watson said. "There's a lot of different, small details of the offense that we want to continue to work on with different looks, especially with a good Philly defense and a good Washington defense and then with our own defense. So we’re seeing … three or four different schemes that is going to help us out, and that's the beauty of it.”

Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on Twitter at @ceasterlingABJ

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Deshaun Watson looks to 'go out there and prove' it against Chiefs