The Browns are planning to start Deshaun Watson against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 2, which means Cleveland is not treating Sunday’s opener in Jacksonville as a one-game verdict. It is treating it as something to live with.
That is the uncomfortable part for the Browns: Watson’s first game back after missing the entire previous season ended in a 34-10 loss, and it did little to quiet the debate around the trade, the contract, or the quarterback himself. Instead, the decision to keep him in the lineup pushes the whole situation forward another week, with Tampa Bay waiting and the scrutiny still attached.
Watson was terrible in the loss to the Jaguars. He threw an interception on the first series, the Browns had just five first downs in the first half, and Cleveland trailed 34-3 after three quarters. The final line — 16 of 22 for 205 yards, a touchdown and an interception — looked cleaner than the performance did. The Browns got 145 of their 272 yards in the fourth quarter, long after the game had already gotten away from them.
Coach Todd Monken said Sunday that putting the loss solely on Watson was “unfair” and that the Browns “could have called (the game) better, certainly could have played better around him.” On Monday, Monken said his lean toward sticking with Watson was confirmed “when I looked at the tape” of the season opener.
He also believes Watson gives Cleveland the best chance to win, and he expects Watson to keep the job against Tampa Bay.
That keeps the Browns tied to the same question they have been carrying since the 2022 trade with Houston: how much longer will they ask everyone else to pay the price for it?
Cleveland sent three first-round picks to Houston for Watson and gave him a fully guaranteed $230 million contract. The organization then replaced Baker Mayfield with Watson and traded Mayfield to Carolina in the summer of 2022. Now Mayfield is back in the picture from the other sideline, after signing a three-year extension with Tampa Bay last week. He will face the Watson-led Browns for the first time since the trade.
That matchup only sharpens the contrast. Mayfield is settled in Tampa. Watson is still trying to justify Cleveland’s choice to keep going with him.
The Browns have not been shy about making quarterback changes in the past — they once traded Charlie Frye two days after a season opener — but this is a different kind of decision. Replacing Watson after one game would be drastic for most teams. For Cleveland, it would also be an admission that the franchise’s biggest bet is already wobbling again.
Watson’s record as Cleveland’s starter is 9-11 since the trade. He has now returned from a season lost to a twice-torn right Achilles tendon, and Monken’s patience appears to be measured in days, not months. He might be down to his last chance to show major improvement before the Browns’ home opener in Week 3 against Carolina.
That is why Week 2 matters so much. Not because one game can settle the Watson era, but because Cleveland has chosen to keep the conversation alive. The Browns can keep saying they believe Watson gives them the best chance to win. They can keep pointing to the tape. They can keep insisting the numbers don’t tell the whole story.
What they cannot do is change what Watson has already cost them.