Two NFL GMs deem Deshaun Watson's career finished. The Cleveland Brown's ownership faces a tough decision as they push for his return, despite the bleak outlook.
The Cleveland Browns have another four-quarterback race to sort out this offseason.
Last season, Joe Flacco was the experienced leader who earned the starting hob for Week 1.
This spring, former Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson is in Flacco's footsteps, trying to hold off Dillon Gabriel, Shedeur Sanders and rookie Taylen Green.
Jason La Canfora of Sports Boom is reporting that the Haslam family, which owns the Browns, are trying to push first-year head coach Todd Monken to start Watson this fall. They've had a strong PR campaign in local Cleveland media to back Watson.
"Some league sources believe Browns ownership is holding out hope that Watson – who sat out a lengthy suspension early in his Cleveland tenure following off-field misconduct allegations, can show enough form to secure a free-agent deal elsewhere next year, potentially delivering the franchise a compensatory draft pick in return," Canfora wrote.
That might be a pipe dream for the Browns. La Canfora spoke with two NFL general managers who questioned Cleveland's thinking. One general manager thinks Watson's career is pretty much toast at this point.
“Dude, you know exactly where this is coming from,” the general manager told La Canfora.
“Jimmy Haslam has paid this guy $180M and he’s got nothing to show for it… He’s trying to get blood from a stone but it’s not going to work. Watson is done.”
With that being said, the La Canfora does think the Browns will give Watson playing time this fall. Monken is being put in a bad position to have to play a quarterback that might not put the team in the best position to win on Sundays.
It would be a true sunk-cost fallacy to play Watson in the hopes that someone down the line can get the Browns a compensatory pick. For obvious reasons, Watson will not be in high demand during free agency next year.
Watson had an incredible career at Clemson before landing with the Houston Texans. He could have developed into one of the better quarterbacks in the league had he not suffered numerous injuries and dealt with off-the-field issues that will define his legacy in the NFL.