For the first time in nearly two years, Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson spoke with media members Wednesday in Berea, Ohio.
There's plenty to ask about regarding Watson, the high-priced addition who became the center of potentially the worst trade and most ill-advised contract in NFL history -- a move Browns owner Jimmy Haslam described last offseason as a "big swing and miss."
One year is left on that contract, and with Watson healthy enough to return to the field at full strength, he's armed with new wisdom and aiming to reclaim the starting job that was supposed to be his for many years to come.
"It was a lot of ups and downs. I learned a lot about myself," Watson said. "Learned that you've just got to be patient. Keep working and keep pushing forward. I've always kind of had that mentality since I was a kid growing up. It wasn't anything new for me. The situation and environment was probably new just being with the type of injures that I had. But outside of that, just keep pushing forward. That's how life goes. … It's been tough but at the same time I was able to grow and learn."
Watson returns to a QB room that looks vastly different than the one he last inhabited. Last year's draft picks Shedeur Sanders and Dillon Gabriel return, while rookie Taylen Green arrives as a developmental project for new coach Todd Monken.
With virtually zero evidence to fuel any sense of entitlement, Watson knows he has to earn whatever opportunity remains for him in Cleveland.
"I just show up every day," Watson said of a QB competition with Sanders. "I can't control coach's … He's the head coach he's the one calling the plays. He gotta decide who he wants out there on the field. At the end of the day, I've just got to show up each and every day and be ready and wait for my number (to be called)."
The last time Watson took the field in brown and orange, he appeared overmatched by the speed of the game and responsibilities assigned to him in former coach Kevin Stefanski's offense. An Achilles injury ended that campaign after seven starts, and complications related to the Achilles ailment prevented him from playing at all in 2025.
By many accounts and estimations, Watson's time in Cleveland was essentially finished.
Then Monken arrived, clearing the slate with his new team, including Watson, who said Wednesday he is fully healthy for the first time since Week 3 of the 2023 season. That was seven weeks before Watson produced his most encouraging performance in his Browns career in a 33-31 comeback win over the Ravens.
That second half outburst -- 14-for-14 passing for 134 yards and a touchdown -- inspired an entire offseason of belief for Browns fans, but they soon learned Watson wasn't the same quarterback after suffering a glenoid fracture in his throwing shoulder, which ended his 2023 season following that Week 10 victory in Baltimore.
"I'm trying to play a full season," Watson, 30, said when asked if he's thought about what could happen in 2027. "I'm just trying to be healthy so I can play all 17-plus games. I don't know. What happens is going to happen at that time."
If staying healthy is priority No. 1 for Watson, winning the job over Sanders is 1B. Throughout the 2026 offseason, the Browns have willingly opened the door for Watson to return to the lineup, provided he earns it. Monken hasn't given either an edge in June, but if Watson can find some semblance of the form that saw him lead the NFL in passing in 2020 while with the Houston Texans, the job should be his by August.
"It's very important," Watson, a three-time Pro Bowler, said of receiving a chance to start again. "I think each and every person that walks into the locker room should have that mindset that you want to start in this league. That's why I show up each and every day, to be able to go out there and perform on Sundays, whatever day that is. It's definitely the main focus of why I work hard to be able to come back."
Still, Watson cautioned against setting expectations too high. The 2020 season was a long time ago.
"I'm not trying to replicate the 2020 (season)," he said. "I'm a different person. I'm older. I'm more wise. I think at the same time, everyone wants to rewind the clock back, but we can't do that. At the end of the I just got to focus on being the best product and player I can for Deshaun Watson as a Cleveland Brown player. That's all I'm focused on."
If Watson can fulfill that goal, he could find himself back in the lineup with one last chance to prove he's worth employing in the NFL. That will require beating out Sanders, a 2025 fifth-round selection who found himself in the lineup as a last resort for Stefanski and managed to hang on to the job for the remainder of the season amid the highs and lows typical of a Day 3 pick.
"It's been good," Watson said of their relationship. "I've known the Sanders family. I've known his brother all the way back when he was at SMU. … I used to hang out with the team and his brother was one of the players. Me and his family have got a good relationship. We always just try to pull for each other.
"We both have the opportunity to go out there and put out the best product for the team and let Monk and the organization choose who goes out there, and we'll support each other."
It's important to note it's only June. The true test of Watson's remaining abilities and proficiency will begin when the Browns take the field for preseason action in August. But for the first time since the start of the 2024 season, Watson has reason to be optimistic.
We'll see if that optimism survives long enough to reach September.
