Browns' Deshaun Watson: Firmly in mix for starting gig

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Browns owner Jimmy Haslam said Monday at the NFL owners' meetings that Watson (Achilles) has a "great chance" to compete for the team's No. 1 quarterback job this season, Zac Jackson of The Athletic reports.

Haslam called this offseason a "fresh start" for Watson, who last saw NFL action October 2024 before suffering a torn Achilles tendon. The 30-year-old re-ruptured the same tendon in January 2025 and missed all of last season. Watson is heading into the final year of the five-year, $230 million deal he inked in 2022, and in early March he agreed to restructure his contract to clear roughly $35 million in cap space. Barring any additions to the QB room, Watson's main competition will be Shedeur Sanders, with Dillon Gabriel also on the depth chart. Watson is presumably now healthy, as the Browns opened his 21-day practice window in December and allowed him to practice in a limited capacity. Per Daniel Oyefusi of ESPN, Haslam said Watson will be present for the start of voluntary workouts April 7.