The Cleveland Browns completely altered their future in 2022 with one move. After their saga with Baker Mayfield, the Browns secured who they thought would be their franchise quarterback by trading for Deshaun Watson. Despite the sexual assault allegations and his previous injuries, Cleveland believed that Watson was their guy.
That move has nearly single-handedly derailed the Browns' future. During that time period, Watson has missed time due to injury and the 11-game suspension for his misconduct. Last season, the Browns quarterback suffered an Achilles tear that ended his campaign prematurely. That, coupled with his poor performance when he was on the field, has brought into question why Cleveland made that trade in the first place.
Former Browns chief strategy officer Paul DePodesta was recently asked about the Watson trade. Even though he took a new role as the Colorado Rockies' president of baseball operations, DePodesta couldn't avoid the now-infamous trade. The former Browns executive took responsibility for the organization's decision.
“Those are organizational decisions,” DePodesta said, per ESPN. “Those are done collaboratively, a lot of people on board, and if you're a senior leader of that organization at that time, then you own that decision. It's the way I feel about almost all the decisions we made there in Cleveland. I absolutely own them all.”
The Watson trade has blown up in Cleveland's face in more ways than one. The Browns quarterback has played in just 19 games through three seasons, sporting a dreadful 61.2% completion rate and amassing just 3,365 yards. He's thrown 19 touchdowns to 12 interceptions as he struggled with injuries, even before tearing his Achilles. Watson is gearing up towards a return this season, but given Cleveland's current standings, that might not be a wise decision.
To add insult to injury, the Browns' previous franchise quarterback, Baker Mayfield, is currently thriving in Tampa Bay. Cleveland's laundry list of quarterback failures just continue to pile up, and now they have an issue on their hands as they look to try and build some sort of a cohesive team.
