The owners of Cleveland Browns Dee and Jimmy Haslam speak during an NFL football firm in White Sulfur Springs, W.VA., Saturday July 27, 2024. (AP photo / Sue Ogrocki, file)
Palm Beach, Florida (AP) – Cleveland’s co -owner Jimmy Haslam admitted that the Browns “had a big swing and miss” with their 2022 trade for the quarter -rear Deshaun Watson.
Haslam comments on Monday during a session with Browns journalists during the League meetings in Florida.
“We thought we had a quarter-Arrière, we did not do it and we abandoned a lot of draft choice to obtain it. So we have to get out of this hole,” said Haslam. “Listen, I said it several times, Deshaun Watson was an entire organizational decision and it ends with (co-owner) Dee (Haslam) and I, so keep us responsible.”
Watson, 29, only played in 19 games since the Browns acquired him from Houston Texans in 2022 and signed it for a fully guaranteed value contract of $ 230 million. Cleveland sent five draft choices to the Texans, including three first-round selections, to obtain the besieged quarter.
Watson can miss all the 2025 season after breaking his Achilles tendon straight for the second time in three months in January. He initially injured it in October 20, 2024, loss against the Bengals of Cincinnati.
In 2022, Watson missed the first 11 games due to a league suspension. He only made six departures in 2023 before undergoing a shoulder injury at the end of the season and started seven last year before the injury of the Achilles tendon.
Watson has a 9-10 sheet with Cleveland with 19 affected, 12 interceptions and a rating of 80.7 passers-by.
The Browns have reworked the Watson contract twice since December. Years of emptiness were added until 2030 to give them additional financial flexibility to distribute dead money on the contract instead of taking a massive blow in a single season.
Cleveland has an insurance that protects the contract and could obtain relief from the NFL ceiling if it is absent for the season.
The Browns have the second choice in the next draft of the NFL after finishing 3-14 in 2024. They welcomed Shedeur Sanders from Colorado and the Miami Cam district – the two main quarter -arre prospects – and have the 33rd overall choice if he waits until the second round or want to go to get another first round choice.
Haslam does not say, however, that the Browns should take a quarter after Tennessee made its selection to open the project.
“I think the message is that if the right person is there, we will take it,” said Haslam. “Otherwise, we will discover it for a year or two until we get the right person. There are good football players in this project and we must make sure that we get the right ones for us.”
In addition to Watson, the only other quarter-back on the Cleveland list is Kenny Pickett, acquired from Philadelphia. The Browns showed Russell Wilson before signing with the New York Giants.
