Pro Football Focus (PFF) highlighted 10 NFL players with the “most at stake” during the 2026 season.

Among them, PFF says, is Cleveland Browns quarterback and former Clemson star Deshaun Watson.

Watson missed all of the 2025 season, but is now healthy again. The 30-year-old is entering the final year of his deal in 2026 and is competing with second-year pro Shedeur Sanders for Cleveland’s starting quarterback job.

PFF’s Bradley Locker wonders whether the upcoming season might be Watson’s last shot as a starter, if things don’t go well.

“The Browns are granting Watson a chance to be the team’s QB1 in 2026, but the 30-year-old may not have many further opportunities if he’s poor yet again,” Locker wrote.

In March 2022, Watson signed a fully guaranteed five-year, $230 million contract with Cleveland after being traded from the Houston Texans to the Browns, who gave away a bunch of draft picks (including three first-round picks) in the deal.

In April, Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com reported that coming out of Browns minicamp, Watson had taken the lead over Sanders in the team’s QB competition and had the inside track to win the starting job. On May 27, Cabot reported that midway through Browns organized team activities (OTAs), Watson “still appears to have the edge over Shedeur Sanders, same as after voluntary minicamp last month.”

Here’s more of what Locker wrote about Watson and what’s at stake for him in 2026:

After arriving in Cleveland via a blockbuster trade, Watson has effectively only disappointed. Across his three seasons with the Browns (2022-24), Watson’s 60.7 PFF passing grade ranks 41st out of 48 qualified quarterbacks, and his 16 big-time throws are tied for 44th. The latest blow came after the former Texans star missed all of 2025 while recovering from a torn Achilles.

Although the Browns hired offensive-oriented head coach Todd Monken this offseason, the team didn’t make any drastic overhauls to its quarterback room. That means that Watson will compete against incumbent sophomore Shedeur Sanders to earn the right as Cleveland’s top option under center, looking to improve a unit that ranked last in passing grade a year ago.

With Watson’s infamous five-year, $230 million contract set to expire at the end of 2026, his results this year are critical. If Watson doesn’t prevail and/or retain the job over Sanders, or if he’s woeful again, it will bode poorly for the rest of his pro career. After all, the soon-to-be 31-year-old hasn’t played like a consistently plus starter in nearly six years.

Watson has not played in an NFL game since he suffered a season-ending Achilles tendon tear during Cleveland’s Week 7 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on Oct. 20, 2024. Less than three months after his initial tear, Watson tore his Achilles for the second time and underwent a second surgery in January 2025 to repair it, forcing him to miss the entire 2025 season.

Of course, Watson has faced plenty of adversity in recent seasons, on and off the field. He played in just six games in his first season with Cleveland in 2022 after having to serve a suspension and then was limited to just six games in 2023 and seven in 2024 due to season-ending injuries, before missing all of the 2025 campaign due to injury.

A three-time Pro Bowler during his time with the Texans, Watson has a 66.2 completion percentage for his career with 17,904 passing yards and 123 passing touchdowns with 48 interceptions in 73 career games with the Texans and Browns since being selected by Houston in the first round (12th overall) of the 2017 NFL Draft.

In 19 games for the Browns, Watson has completed 61.2 percent of his passes for 3,365 yards and 19 touchdowns with 12 interceptions.