It’s unclear whether the Browns privately acknowledge that the decision to trade for quarterback Deshaun Watson and give him a five-year guaranteed contract was a mistake. Publicly they haven’t, and they won’t, and probably never will.
During his press conference on Wednesday, GM Andrew Berry was asked if he still thinks the trade was a good one.
“I’m really not in reflection mode,” Berry told reporters. “[I]This isn’t really my focus at this point in the year. “Our focus is really on finishing the 2024 season, getting the team playing at a higher level, and then we’ll get to maybe the longer term or bigger picture at a later date.”
That’s the closest anyone on the Browns has come to acknowledging what everyone knows. The trade and the contract were and are a disaster.
Berry was also asked if the idea to trade for Watson came to him or if it came from higher up in the organization.
“[L]As we have always said, we were all on board,” Berry said. ‘Everyone is on board and obviously with a great commitment in that respect, that will always be the case.’
He didn’t answer the question. And while success has a thousand fathers and failure has no descendants, someone in the organization was the first to decide it would be a good idea to join in the pursuit of Deshaun Watson, and then make him an offer he could make . not refusing after Watson told them he wasn’t interested. Does anyone think these decisions didn’t come from owner Jimmy Haslam?
The Browns are in a mess with the Watson contract. They owe him $92 million through 2026. The maximum costs are unknown: $72 million in 2025, $72 million in 2026 and $26.9 million in 2027 (after the contract expires).
It cannot be ruled out that Watson returns as 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 they are passionate and they love the team. When we make organizational decisions, they will always be in line with what we believe is in the best interests of the franchise. And some of them will be popular, some of them will be unpopular. But that’s really the way we’re going to navigate through it.
This is the deal. If you’re in an industry that requires fan engagement and loyalty (and money), popularity decisions have to 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 least not play him? What if they stop watching the games on TV?
It’s okay to admit mistakes. If you don’t do this, it will only get worse.
As I said recently PFT Livethe Browns are the guy who comes out of the bathroom with toilet paper on the bottom of his shoe. Everyone knows it’s there. He know it is there. And yet pride and ego keep him from doing anything about it.
Where does that come from? Our guess would be that it comes from the same person who had the original idea of trading for Watson in the first place – and offering him $230 million, fully guaranteed over five years, to make that idea a reality.
