Does This NFL Network Analyst Think Watson Can Be Elite Again?
By: Gavin Oliver May 8, 2024

This analyst believes Deshaun Watson has the potential to put himself back among the top quarterbacks in the National Football League.

A three-time Pro Bowler, Watson is entering his third year with the Cleveland Browns in 2024 after being traded to Cleveland from the Houston Texans in March 2022 and then signing a new fully guaranteed five-year, $230 million contract with the Browns.

Watson sat out all of the 2021 season and then served an 11-game suspension to begin 2022 for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy. In 2023, he went 5-1 as Cleveland’s starter before suffering a season-ending shoulder injury in a Week 10 win over the Baltimore Ravens.

Although Watson has only played in a total of 12 games since the end of the 2020 season – when he was the NFL’s passing yards leader (4,823) – NFL Network’s Rhett Lewis thinks the former Clemson star is capable of returning to form as one of the best signal-callers in the sport.

“I do think that Deshaun Watson can once again become one of the elite quarterbacks in this league,” Lewis said in an interview with Spencer German on The Dawg Check podcast. “There’s too much talent there, and I think there’s too much internal motivation to put all that has troubled him over the course of the last three years behind him in a big way.

“Going back to the suspension year where you only get him for a couple of games, and then he’s injured for a majority of the season. He just has not had a full season, a full offseason to put this whole thing together and see it unfold.”

Watson underwent surgery on Nov. 21 to repair a displaced fracture to the glenoid in his right (throwing) shoulder. Prior to the season-ending injury, he completed 61.4 percent of his passes for 1,115 yards and seven touchdowns with four interceptions across six games last season.

The 28-year-old is working his way back from the injury, and the Browns have said they expect him to be ready for the start of the upcoming season, with general manager Andrew Berry making it clear recently that his expectations for Watson are high heading into 2024.

Lewis is also optimistic about Watson, who was once widely regarded as a top-tier NFL QB, and Lewis ultimately sees him playing at an elite level again – as long as he can stay on the field.

“Fingers crossed on the health perspective, as long as all that comes through with the shoulder and everything that had ailed him over the last couple of years,” Lewis said. “If you can have a full 17-game season with a player like that, because I really think that’s where you start to see the rhythm come into play. That’s where you start to see the comfortability with (Browns head coach) Kevin Stefanski come into play. …

“So, it’s a matter of continuity, and then with that continuity of availability, you get the consistency. And then with the consistency, I think what you start to see is that elite-level play.”

Watson has passed for 16,756 yards and 118 touchdowns with 45 interceptions in 66 career games with the Browns and Texans since being taken by Houston in the first round (12th overall) of the 2017 draft.

In his two seasons with the Browns, Watson has completed 59.8 percent of his passes for 2,217 yards, 14 touchdowns and nine interceptions.

–Photo courtesy of Scott Galvin-USA TODAY Sports

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