There’s Nothing Left To Defend
I don’t know if there is a better schadenfreude in the NFL right now than the Cleveland Browns. Watching Watson play like a 3rd string practice squad QB against the Cowboys was genuinely hilarious. I hate the Cowboys and was still actively laughing at every terrible throw and enjoying every painful slap in the face the Browns received. It was delightful. I imagine it was pretty good for most of you, too. Because this was it. This was the funniest possible outcome. The Browns sold their soul for a predatory monster because he was good at football, and he’s only been very bad at football instead. This is what you fucking deserve, Haslam. A national embarrassment.
When Watson got what is now clearly the worst contract in NFL history after one of the worst trades in NFL history, it was disgusting. Here was a man who had rebelled against his former team and was now under investigation and accusation of Bill Cosby-level sexual misconduct, receiving the biggest contract in league history. Everything about his conduct was ignored because he could throw a football. It was sickening to see what was truly valued. This is not a new phenomenon. There are scumbags all over the league. Every one of our teams has had unsavory characters on it. None of us are guilt-free when it comes to looking the other way to at least some degree. But fans are not at fault for what organizations do. Fans do not consent to roster decisions. We support the organization as a concept. I do not blame any Browns fan who still roots for the Browns and still wants the team to succeed. The Browns existed before Watson and they will exist after him. A lot of Browns fans have distanced themselves to some degree, and even more just try to move past the elephant in the room and focus on ball. I get it. I’m not sure I could do it, but I get it. I don’t bear any of those fans any ill will.
But there have been pockets of vehement defenders. Anecdotal evidence, I know, but it sure is funny how every single one I’ve run into happens to be a Browns fan. Being a fan of a team does not mean you have to support everything the team does with your life. I do not purposefully go into the kind of spaces that have Watson defenders (because who would, yikes), but they do leak into other places at times. I’ve triggered a few from time to time with a tweet or an instagram post or right here on the site itself. I’ve seen most of the defenses, and they are all incredibly weak. Yes, he was not charged. I know that. Yes, a couple of the women changed some details of their stories around as the investigation advanced. None of it holds nearly enough sway to convince me he’s not a predator. He is at least confirmed as a creep with a weird fetish. Many of the interactions I’ve had with those defenders were shockingly hostile, with very aggressive language and even threats used against me for having the opinion that he’s bad news. Telling me to keep his name out of my mouth or I’ll get put down, very normal stuff to say to someone over the internet in regards to a football player they don’t know or have any personal connection to.
There isn’t much point in rehashing the argument against him at this stage. Everyone has picked a side by now. What interests me is where the defenders go from here. Like mentioned, all of the defenses I’ve seen have come from Browns fans, and you have to presume it’s because Watson is now a Brown that they are emotionally invested in him being clean. If he’s clean, then the team was right to do everything, right? Then all of this is just league and media bias against Cleveland. If he’s clean, they were the righteous knights all along. But as it has become clear over these past few years…Watson isn’t even good anymore. The football part of this entire equation, the reason he was defended in the first place, the reason he was paid in the first place, the reason he was sought after in the first place…it failed.
He’s butt. Take away all of the off-field drama and pretend that Watson is a boy scout or just a victim of a grand extortion conspiracy by 20+ women and look at the result anyway. He’s fucking ass. He’s still the worst contract in NFL history. Watson’s suckage could be chalked up to rust his first few games back. Last year he was anus, but he got injured and missed a lot of time. But he’s still the deluxe package collectors edition of ass. Baker Mayfield took this team to a playoff victory. Jacoby Brissett had this offense humming in the top 10 for the time he was there. Joe Flacco came out of hospice and saved the season, putting up better numbers in almost every game than Watson has put up since 2020. The coaching isn’t a problem. The roster isn’t a problem. The QB is the problem. Watson sucks. He’s toast. He looks like he doesn’t give a shit. Why would he? He’s got two seasons of being paid over 100 million a year no matter what. The Browns are in such a staggering pit because of this terrible decision to give 250 million to an accused rapist. It’s impossible to not smile with glee when they fail because of him.
It’s week 1. There is of course still time for Watson to figure it out but at this stage you have to have a staggering optimism to assume he will. Whether anybody likes it or not, Watson is getting paid an obscene amount for the next 3 seasons. The only chance Cleveland has to be rid of him is if he gets caught doing something against conduct policy again and they can activate a clause in his contract to void it successfully. Hey, Watson just got slapped with another lawsuit regarding predatory misbehavior! Maybe that’s it. Maybe that’s the out. The Browns should honestly invest in the case and see if they can use it to save themselves from this mistake and put Watson out on his ass.
For now, I’ll just try to enjoy every ounce of failure he generates.
The Browns can void Watson’s contract if he’s suspended by the league for “conduct detrimental”. They’ve got to be praying that the league will suspend him, *but* last time Watson was hit with criminal charges, this time it’s only a civil suit. It’s not clear that the league will suspend him again.
I’m kinda conflicted about this. On the one hand, really hoping DeShaun doesn’t get one more cent than he needs to. On the other hand, I feel like the Browns deserve to have this albatross hanging over their heads for everything they originally committed to, knowing what they were getting into.
I will say one good thing about Groper Cleveland.
At least he ain’t Karl Malone.
I speak for all Texans fans when I say: Fuck Deshuan Watson. He genuinely ruined four years of Football memories for me. Watching him suck ass and his trade being the main reason for our success is sweet music to my ears.
Not to make light of everything but, like, this would only ever happen to the Cleveland Browns.
Whenever stuff like this (maybe not as egregious as Watson’s case but still) happens, it always works out in favor of the player and the team that acquired him. They might get some pushback from fans after the initial trade/signing, but once they step on the field and inevitably start balling out, fans will give in and collectively agree to just let it go after a while. Some may even turn it into a weird redemption arc. Down the road you’ll eventually get people using bad faith arguments to insinuate that nothing ever happened to begin with and all the outrage was silly. And I fully expected this to be the case with Deshaun Diddy and the Browns.
And yet, it didn’t. It not only failed spectacularly for Cleveland, but we got the absolute best possible result out of it: The guy they ditched to acquire Deshaun went on to not only continue playing ball, but also managed to completely revive his career. Watching Baker Mayfield completely flip his PR during all of this has to be some sort of cosmic intervention. Definitive proof that the sports gods absolutely loathe the Cleveland Browns and everything they do.
I am still upset that the Falcons sabotaged their relationship with Matt Ryan to pursue him. The Browns saved the Falcons in the end and for that I am thankful, but I cannot believe it came down to a bidding war for a rapist.
The Deshaun Watson hate watch has fed families in Houston. Screw that guy and screw Haslam–but thank you as well to Haslam for returning the Texans to contenders
You know that comic where the pats lost the Super Bowl to the eagles? That’s how I feel about the browns right now.
Having read up on the latest accusations, it genuinely feels like Watson is acting pathologically and is deeply mentally ill. At this point he should not be playing football, he should be in a mental hospital before we get another CTE victim.
The Broncos are paying Russell Wilson to stand in the Steelers sideline right now and they can at least be be glad they didn’t trade for Deshaun Watson instead.
As I understand it, the out is if he is charged with new stuff that actually *happened* after he signed the deal. Though he is being sued anew, the actual incident alleged was still before, so I don’t think it’d happen. And given that there weren’t any criminal charges last time when there were 20+ people, which would be the actual out here, it’s hard to believe there’ll be any for one new one. It’s probably just a settlement and all continues as it has been.
One of my favorite parts of this whole ordeal has been how Baker Mayfield has flourished in Tampa. Dude tried to hard to play through injuries and people turned on him. There were even some Browns fans who thought that even with his baggage, Watson was a better player to have on the roster.
Sure, the Browns looked kinda right about Baker after the Carolina fiasco, but looking at Carolina since then I’d say the Panthers really aren’t a good measuring stick to use for comparisons. Sam Darnold has looked decent since leaving there. And of course, Baker is winning and looking like a solid QB right now.
As someone who despised Baker for coming off as a cocky, arrogant, jackass, I will admit… the Watson situation helped me give him a second shot. He (mostly) tried to take the high road and has kept his face out of commercials since being humbled by that fiasco.
It also helps that his success in Tampa Bay means I can point to the team and say, “SEE?!? TOM BRADY IS OVERRATED! EVEN BAKER MAYFIELD CAN RUN THIS OFFENSE!” XD
So, Deshaun Roethlisberger’s arrival signified the end of 14 years of Browns fandom for me. I chose to step away from the team that brought me so much pain and joy and laughter and tears. I had immediately jumped over to the Lions. They were coming off a 3-13-1 season, 2nd overall pick. I love an underdog story and so I started rooting for Dan Campbell because I would much rather like the people calling the shots. Fuck Jimmy Haslam for taking a shit on the fan base on a regular. Fuck Andrew Berry for giving in. Fuck Kevin Stefanski for continuing to play Groper Cleveland in spite of his lack of ability anymore. And especially Fuck Deshaun Watson for what he almost certainly did.
If Deshaun Watson leaves will you return to being a Browns fan or stick with the Lions?
Agree with everyone on your “Fuck (insert name)” list. I’m not coming back until ALL of them are gone and maybe not even then.
I gave up 50+ years of Browns fandom when they signed Watson. I could put up with losing, incompetence, the Drive, the Fumble, the Hydra, etc, but hiring a known serial rapist was a no-go. (I was so happy a few days earlier, when the Browns lied and said they were out of the watson bidding. Then they come back with a guaranteed quarter BILLION.) Fuck everybody there. Hope they never win another game with the current regime.
josh rosen is at wharton’s school of business now?
It was painful enough as a Texans fan when everything came to light, but even more painful as a Saints fan that we actually had interest in that sh*blimp. (Gayle needs to sell the team and run off with Mickey and his gum already.)
Lifelong Browns fan here. I don’t think Baker would have won a Super Bowl on the Browns but at least we’d still be in contention. Like most Browns fans, most of us are hoping this new case would void his contract and we can draft a new QB this year.