The Cleveland Browns pass offense has been among the worst in the NFL this season, and things can’t continue on as they have for much longer without some restructuring at the top of the organization.
If general manager Andrew Berry and head coach Kevin Stefanski want to avoid facing their own ousters, they may well have to remove quarterback Deshaun Watson from his starting role.
Cleveland’s offensive line is the worst in pass protection across the entire league, and while getting healthier should help that, it isn’t likely to change the narrative of this season — which the Browns have begun 1-4. Because of that, and all of the fully guaranteed money that the team has invested in Watson ($230 million over five years, with the halfway point of the contract approaching at the end of the month), there is a reasonable chance Watson stays put under center for the remainder of this season.
After all, why trade for a new QB and take on even more money when it’s not going to matter anyway? The team could make a move to backup Jameis Winston or Dorian Thompson-Robinson this season, but neither is likely to prove a long-term solution to the Browns’ considerable problems.
For that, Cleveland will likely have to wait for the 2025 draft, when Josh Edwards of CBS Sports predicts they will select Colorado Buffaloes quarterback Sheduer Sanders No. 3 overall.
“No one questions that Cleveland needs to make a change at quarterback. There are questions about how to handle Deshaun Watson’s contract and the path forward,” Edwards wrote on Thursday, October 10. “Signing Sam Darnold next offseason is probably not in the cards considering what they will owe Watson, but the idea of taking a quarterback in the draft makes a lot of sense.”
Shedeur Sanders Among Best QBs in College Football Over Past 2 Seasons
GettyColorado Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders talks with his son and quarterback Shedeur Sanders.
Sanders is 22 years old and entered the weekend with a 70.1% completion rate, which led all of college football.
Despite some rough games for CU in Sanders’ first season with the team in 2023, during which the Buffaloes went 4-8, Sanders finished the year with 3,230 passing yards and 27 TDs compared to just 3 INTs across 11 games played. He has tallied 1,630 yards passing, 14 TDs and 3 INTs through five games this season, and the Buffaloes are 4-1 with a contest against the 18th-ranked Kansas State Wildcats on Saturday night.
Sanders, the youngest son of former NFL star and current Colorado head coach Deion Sanders, is a dual-threat quarterback with a pair of legs almost as potent as his arm. Despite that, most draft analysts don’t project Sanders as a top-3, top-5 or even top-10 talent in the 2025 class.
However, given his abilities at the game’s most important position — not to mention Cleveland’s need for an affordable QB under center, as the organization is stuck paying Watson through 2026 no matter what — Sanders to the Browns makes sense in the first round wherever the team ends up selecting.
Browns Predicted to Dress up any Future Benching of Deshaun Watson
GettyQuarterback Deshaun Watson of the Cleveland Browns.
If Cleveland ever does sideline Watson, who ranks 31st in the league with a QBR of 21.0, Ari Meirov of 33rd Team said last week that it will happen in only one way.
“It would have to be a locker room situation where the players revolt and are like, ‘We need somebody else out there,'” Meirov said on Wednesday, October 9. “I would be stunned if they ever come out and say [they] are benching Deshaun Watson. The wording is gonna be different … It’s gonna be an injury type of a thing. It will not be, ‘We are benching him.’ They are not gonna embarrass him like that, and they are not gonna embarrass the organization like that.”
Watson has started just 17 out of a possible 39 regular-season games since arriving in Cleveland, posting a record of 9-8. He missed 11 games in 2022 due to a suspension and 11 more last season because of shoulder surgery.
Across his 17 outings with the Browns, Watson has completed 60% of his passes for 3,069 yards, 19 TDs and 12 INTs.
Max Dible covers the NFL, NBA and MLB for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, Chicago Bears and Cleveland Browns. He covered local and statewide news as a reporter for West Hawaii Today and served as news director for BigIslandNow.com and Pacific Media Group's family of Big Island radio stations before joining Heavy. More about Max Dible
