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After losing Deshaun Watson for the year to an Achilles rupture only seven games into the season, the Cleveland Browns' dismal 2024 campaign descended into chaos. They finished the year with a 3-14 record, the worst since their infamous 0-16 season in 2017.
They hoped the quarterback would be ready for Week 1 of the 2025 season and would embark on a bounce-back year, but that won't be the case. On Friday, the team announced that Watson ruptured his Achilles again and underwent another surgery to fix it. He's expected to miss most if not the entirety of the 2025 season.
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Fans on social media had little to no sympathy for the Browns star. Instead, they mocked the franchise for handing him a fully guaranteed five-year, $230 million contract despite over two dozen women accusing him of sexual assault:
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"Wow, the worst contract in sports history. Is that fair to say?," one tweeted.
Some fans implored the Browns to release Watson and use the second overall pick in the 2025 NFL draft to land a new quarterback:
"Browns need to just cut Deshaun Watson, pay him his money, admit their mistake and let the rest of the world move on from this. He is never going to be as good as he was with the Texans." - opined @XemptOne
"I do think the #DawgPound can correct their mistakes of getting Deshaun Watson if they do take Cam Ward at #2" - Believes @OmegaSenpaiZ
"Cleveland Browns fully guaranteed deal for Deshaun Watson has cap hits of $72M in each of the next two seasons and there's no way for them to lessen the blown. It only gets worse if they cut him now. They need a rookie QB deal now more than ever." - @seahawknfldraft
Deshaun Watson stats: An underwhelming return on investment for the Browns
After Deshaun Watson ruled out the Browns as a potential landing spot in the 2022 offseason, the franchise's top brass panicked.
They committed to handing the then-Houston Texans quarterback the biggest guaranteed deal in NFL history, an offer he couldn't refuse. They also gave up three first-round, one third-round and two fourth-round picks to Houston for the signal caller and a six-round pick.
The team pulled the trigger on the trade despite knowing that he would miss most of the 2022 season due to a lengthy suspension stemming from the sexual assault allegations. Watson, who was handed an 11-game ban, played only six times in his first year as a Brown and finished with 1,102 passing yards, seven passing touchdowns, five interceptions, 175 rushing yards and one rushing touchdown.
The team sacrificed the 2022 campaign expecting the future to be bright, but that hasn't been the case. Over the past two seasons, Watson has been limited to only 13 games due to injuries. Overall, he has played 19 games for the Browns in three seasons, going 9-10.
He hasn't fared too well when he has been available either. Since joining the team, he has completed 61.2% of his pass attempts for 3,365 yards, 19 touchdown passes, 12 interceptions and rushed for 465 yards and three touchdowns.
The return on investment has been abysmal for the Browns, who now have to look for alternatives, as Watson will be sidelined for most of the 2025 season.
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