It’s unclear whether the Browns privately acknowledge that the decision to trade for, and to give a five-year guaranteed contract to, quarterback Deshaun Watson was a mistake. Publicly, they haven’t and they won’t and they probably never will.
During his Wednesday press conference, G.M. Andrew Berry was asked whether he still thinks the trade was a good one.
“I’m really not in reflection mode,” Berry told reporters. "[I]t’s not really my focus at this point in the year. Our focus is really on finishing out the 2024 season, having the team play at a higher level, and then kind of we’ll get to those maybe longer term or big picture reflections at a later point in time.”
That’s the closest anyone from the Browns has come to acknowledging what everyone knows. The trade and the contract were and are a disaster.
Berry also was asked whether he came up with the idea to trade for Watson, or whether it came from higher in the organization.
"[L]ike we’ve always said, all of us were on board,” Berry said. “Everyone’s on board and obviously with a big commitment in that regard, that’s always going to be the case.”
He didn’t answer the question. And while success has a thousand fathers and failure has no next of kin, someone in the organization was the first one to decide that it would be a good idea to participate in the chase for Deshaun Watson, and then to make him an offer he couldn’t refuse after Watson told them he wasn’t interested. Does anyone think those decisions didn’t come from owner Jimmy Haslam?
The Browns have a mess with the Watson contract. They owe him $92 million through 2026. The cap charges are unprecedented — $72 million in 2025, $72 million in 2026, and $26.9 million in 2027 (after the contract expires).
It’s not out of the question that Watson will return as the starter next year. Even though the fans/customers don’t want that, Berry made it clear that their position doesn’t matter.
“So, first and foremost, we love our fans,” Berry said. “We know that they’re passionate and they love the team. As we make decisions organizationally, it’ll always be within what we think is within the best interest of the franchise. And some of those will be popular, some of those will be unpopular. But that’s really the way that we’ll navigate it.”
Here’s the deal. When operating in an industry that requires fan involvement and loyalty (and money), popularity of decisions should be a factor. What if the fans boycott the team’s home games if Watson remains the quarterback? What if they organize protests and rallies aimed at pressuring the team to get rid of Watson, or at a minimum to not play him? What if they quit watching the games on TV?
It’s OK to admit mistakes. Failing to do so only makes it worse.
As I said recently on PFT Live, the Browns are the guy who comes out of the bathroom with toilet paper stuck on the bottom of his shoe. Everyone knows it’s there. He knows it’s there. And yet pride and ego prevent him from doing anything about it.
Where does that come from? Our guess would be that it originates with the same person who had the original idea to trade for Watson in the first place — and to offer him $230 million fully guaranteed over five years in order to make that idea a reality.
