Week 1 couldn't have been much worse for the Cleveland Browns and quarterback Deshaun Watson.
The visiting Dallas Cowboys pummeled them 33-17 in a game that was much more lopsided than the score indicated. Browns running back Jerome Ford scored a 2-yard rushing touchdown against Cowboys backups with 29 seconds left to put lipstick on the pig that was their Sunday afternoon performance.
Watson was at the center of the struggle bus, throwing for 169 yards, one touchdown (a 6-yarder to wide receiver Jerry Jeudy) and two interceptions -- both coming off of deflections -- while being sacked six times. It's worth noting that both left tackle Jedrick Wills (knee) and right tackle Jack Conklin (knee) both did not play on Sunday, which certainly made Watson's efforts against Micah Parsons, who racked an NFL-most nine quarterback pressures to go along with a sack, and the Cowboys pass rush an uphill climb.
When digging into some of the next-level numbers on Watson's afternoon, the picture they paint is nauseating. Per CBS Sports Zach Pereles, Watson is the only quarterback out of 1,752 occurrences of a quarterback throwing at least 10 passes 15 or more yards downfield in a game to not complete a single one of those throws.
Watson Advanced Passing Numbers from Week 1 vs. Cowboys
- 0-for-10 on passes 15 or more air yards downfield
- 0-for-4 on passes 20 or more yards downfield
- 3-for-12 when throwing under pressure for 10 yards
- 2-for-9 passing for 13 yards in addition to three sacks when blitzed
That is an abysmal performance for a quarterback who held the record for the most guaranteed money in a contract ($230 million) in league history until Sunday morning when the Cowboys re-signed three-time Pro Bowler Dak Prescott to a four-year, $240 million contract with $231 million guaranteed. In fact, Watson has been one of the league's worst quarterbacks since the Browns traded for him and re-signed him to his five-year, $230 million fully guaranteed deal in March 2022.
With that in mind, is Cleveland's decision to acquire him and re-sign him the worst transaction in NFL history? Let's weigh his acquisition cost, performance and contract value to come to a decisive conclusion.
Watson trade terms
Cleveland sent six draft picks, including three first-rounders, Houston's way in exchange for Watson:
- A 2022 first-round pick (13th)
- A 2022 fourth-round pick (104)
- A 2023 first-round pick (12)
- A 2023 third-round pick (73)
- A 2024 first-round pick (23)
- A 2024 fourth-round pick (123)
Here is what the Texans ended up doing with all that draft capital:
- The 2022 first (13) was traded to the Eagles for 15 (OL Kenyon Green), 124, 162, and 166
- 124 was subsequently traded to the Browns with 68 and 108 for 44 (WR John Metchie III)
- 162 was subsequently traded to the Broncos with 80 for 75 (DL Christian Harris)
- 166 was subsequently traded to the Bears with 207 for 150 (DL Thomas Booker)
- The 2022 fourth (104) was used on RB Dameon Pierce
- The 2023 first (12) was traded to the Cardinals with 33 and a 2024 1st (27) for 3 (DE Will Anderson Jr.) and 105
- 105 was subsequently traded to the Eagles for a 2024 3rd, which was used on DB Calen Bullock
- The 2023 third (73) was traded to the Rams with 161 for 69 (WR Tank Dell)
- The 2024 1st (23) was traded to the Vikings with 232 for 42 (DB Kamari Lassiter), 188 (LB Jamal Hill) and MIN's 2025 2nd
- The 2024 fourth (123) was traded to the Eagles and then back to the Texans and used on TE Cade Stover
All of those moves resulted in the Texans having 2023 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Will Anderson Jr., starting wide receiver Tank Dell, starting left guard Kenyon Green, starting free safety Calen Bullock, starting cornerback Kamari Lassiter, wide receiver John Metchie III, linebacker Christian Harris, running back Dameon Pierce, linebacker Jamal Hill and tight end Cade Stover. They also have an extra 2025 second-round pick, via the Vikings, because of the compensation they received from the Browns.
Hannah McNair, the Texans vice president in charge of the Houston Texans Foundation and wife of team owner Cal McNair, commented on the trade as an "Ultimate Fan" podcast guest on Aug. 30. Her remarks were another sign of Houston taking a victory lap on fleecing the Browns.
"Have you thanked a Brown lately?" she said. "I thank 'em for all of our players."
Watson the football player
Watson earned three consecutive Pro Bowl selections from 2018-2020 with the Houston Texans, and he played like a top-five quarterback in 2020. He threw for a league-leading 4,823 passing yards, the third-best touchdown to interception ratio (33-7) and the second-best passer rating (112.4) in the NFL behind only 2020 NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers and his 121.5 passer rating.
Then, Watson ran into some legal issues. He was sued by 25 women on allegations from sexual harassment to sexual assault starting in March 2021. That led to him sitting out the entire 2021 season with the Houston Texans with a trade demand and while being the defendant in numerous sexual harassment civil lawsuits. Watson was then suspended 11 games for his alleged misdeeds, and he returned to NFL: action in Week 13 of the 2022 season at the Texans, of all possible matchups. He was knocked out with a shoulder injury that required surgery in Week 10 of the 2023 season that required season-ending surgery.
Across the prior two seasons from 2022-2023, his time as the Browns quarterback before Sunday's game against Dallas, Watson played like one of the 10 worst quarterbacks in football in that span.
Watson as a Brown from 2022-2023
| WATSON | NFL RANK* | |
|---|---|---|
Comp Pct | 59.8% | 41st |
Pass Yards/Att | 6.5 | 36th |
TD-INT | 14-9 | 31st |
Passer Rating | 81.7 | 37th |
* Among 45 QBs with 300+ pass attempts
His biggest difference from his three-time Pro Bowl career with the Houston Texans (2017-2021) and his putrid start to his Browns career is his deep ball efficiency or rather lack thereof. Watson was one of the 10 most efficient quarterbacks in football when throwing passes of 20 or more air yards in Houston with a 43% completion rate on such throws, the sixth best in the NFL. In Cleveland, that figure declined to 28%, which ranks 38th among 45 quarterbacks with at least 300 passing attempts since 2022.
That's why his performance against the Cowboys to start the 2024 season is so jarring. It's a far cry from the elite quarterback he used to be.
Watson's predecessor, 2018 first overall pick Baker Mayfield, is now thriving with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, which makes this deal that much more painful. Mayfield played through an early-season injury in his throwing shoulder in 2021 after he awkwardly tackled a defender who was returning an intercepted pass, and Cleveland opted to dump the quarterback who helped lead them to their first playoff victory (in 2020) since the 1994 season when Bill Belichick was their coach.
Mayfield became a Pro Bowler last season with the Buccaneers, posting career-high numbers in completion percentage (64.3%), passing yards (4,044) and passing touchdowns (28). Mayfield performed like a top 10 quarterback as he ranked ninth in passing yards and seventh in passing touchdowns in 2023. He even tossed one more touchdown in the regular season than Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes (27 regular-season touchdowns in 2023). This production earned him a three-year, $100 million extension with $40 million guaranteed with the Buccaneers. In Week 1 on Sunday against the Washington Commanders, Mayfield threw for 289 yards, four touchdowns and no interception on 24 of 30 passing for a 146.4 passer rating. That 146.4 passer rating is the best of Week 1 prior to "Sunday Night Football" and "Monday Night Football."
Safe to say the Browns wish they still employed Mayfield given he is inarguably the better quarterback today.
Watson's contract value
Signing a player who sat out an entire season for legal issues to the first fully-guaranteed quarterback contract in NFL history simply wasn't wise. It gave Cleveland no outs if his tenure with the Browns turned out the way it has. It's also worth noting Cleveland felt like they had to do this because they were competing with the New Orleans Saints and the Atlanta Falcons at the time for the right to trade for him, and he had initially ruled them out because the Georgia native didn't want to live as far north as Ohio.
Following contract restructures, Watson has a 2025 and 2026 cap hit of $72.935 million in the final two seasons of the deal. Cutting him before June 1 next offseason would result in a net loss of $99.799 million in 2025 and a net loss of $26.864 million in the 2026 offseason according to OverTheCap.com. There's simply no way out of the deal for the Browns without punitive financial consequences.
Verdict
The Cleveland Browns' trade for and re-signing of quarterback Deshaun Watson is the single worst transaction in NFL history. The only trade that comes close is the Minnesota Vikings' acquisition of running back Herschel Walker from the Dallas Cowboys. It was the largest trade in NFL history, and the Cowboys used the ammunition from this trade to build a core that won three Super Bowls in four years in 1992, 1993 and 1995. They flipped the draft capital below to acquire the NFL's all-time leading rusher in running back Emmitt Smith, Pro Bowl defensive lineman Russell Maryland and three-time First-Team All-Pro defensive back Darren Woodson.
Vikings Got
- RB Herschel Walker
- 1990 third-round Pick
- 1990 fifth-round Pick
- 1990 10th-round Pick
- 1991 third-round Pick
Cowboys Got
- LB Jesse Solomon
- LB David Howard
- CB Issiac Holt
- DE Alex Stewart
- 1990 first-round Pick
- 1990 second-round Pick
- 1990 sixth-round Pick
- 1991 first-round Pick
- 1991 second-round Pick
- 1992 first-round Pick
- 1992 second-round Pick
- 1992 third-round Pick
What makes the Browns' deal for Watson the worst ever is not only they did forfeit six draft picks, including three firsts, but they gave him what was the highest contract guarantee ($230 million) in league history, until Sunday, on a five-year deal without any outs. Not only is the loss of draft capital horrendous, but the salary cap crunch Watson's contract will put Cleveland in across the next two years in 2025 and 2026 is catastrophic. Those are all of the football reasons why the Browns' Watson acquisition is the worst deal in NFL history.
Then there are the non-football reasons like the PR hit the franchise has taken by making someone who was sued at least 25 times in civil court for sexual harassment the face of their organization. Either way you slice it, the Browns' trade and re-signing of Watson set their franchise back for years in such a prohibitive way that Cleveland is now the new owner of the worst personnel move in NFL history.