The Rise And Fall of Deshaun Watson

the life of an NFL quarterback can be brutal but deshun Watson might have the strangest career the league has ever seen it's so awful that if somebody wanted to arrest him for being awful I would accept it through the first 6 weeks of the 2024 season Watson had the worst qbr in NFL history and after he tragically tore his Achilles in week seven some Browns fans cheered but even after the injury Cleveland can't move on from desan because of his Infamous $230 million fully guaranteed contract and to think in Watson's last season with Houston he was shattering franchise records how does that happen how does someone go from franchise savior to the worst quarterback in the entire league what really happened to deshun Watson and how did he fall off so fast to better understand Watson's up and down career we first got to take you back to Gainesville Georgia where Deshawn was a high school legend when he attended Gainesville High his numbers were generational 17,1 34 total yards yards 218 total touchdowns 13,775 career passing touchdowns every single one of these stats became a new state record in Georgia and because of that Deshawn was a four-star recruit and the top ranked QB in the class of 2014 but there was never a question about where he was going to be playing college ball Watson committed to Clemson as a sophomore and never wavered even graduating high school a semester early to join the team ahead of schedule still he started his career with the Tigers as a backup to Cole Stout but that wouldn't last long cuz after three games while only playing limited reps Watson totaled 479 yards four touchdowns and zero interceptions outperforming Stout after that he took the starting job and never looked back in his very first start against UNC Watson threw a School record six touchdowns to go with 435 yards and despite missing games due to a broken hand and having his freshman season cut short after suffering a torn ecl Watson still stuffed the stat sheet with 1,466 passing yards 14 touchdowns and just two interceptions and his sophomore year was even better not only did the Tigers go undefeated during the regular season they ended the year as the number one team in the country Clemson won their first ACC Championship in 11 years beat Oklahoma to start the college football playoff the tigers are now one game away from becoming the first 15- 0 team in FBS history and national champions and despite falling to Alabama in the national title game Watson set the record for most total yards in a national title game ever with 478 he also became the first FBS player to throw for over 4,000 yards and rush for over a th000 as a softmore this helped him become a Heisman finalist and be named the top quarterback in all of college football winning the DAV O'Brien award and Watson kept that momentum going for an iconic junior year not only did Clemson finish the season 12-1 this time around they won the national title over Alabama to avenge their loss from a season ago it was Clemson's First National Title since 1981 and just their second in school history and Deshawn put together one of the all-time great college football seasons with 4,593 passing yards 629 rushing yards and 50 total touchdowns even in the one game they lost against pit Watson went for 580 passing yards and three touchdowns he ended his college career with a 32 three record the best record in school history at the time finishing with 10,163 passing yards and 90 total touchdowns but after reaching the Pinnacle of college football it was time to move on so on November 8th 2016 he declared for the 2017 NFL draft you know three years kind of flew by but um you know I think it's my time to go um you know just kind of end it with a bang and I felt like first knew know my time was up and while Watson couldn't have done anything more to boost his draft stock there were still doubts many Saw Deshawn as a prospect lacking arm strength and pocket presence I think there are other quarterbacks in the draft with stronger arms than him but I would take deshun Watson and he was very different from the traditional NFL QB mold While others saw his creativity ability to extend plays and throw off platform but what no one could deny was that he was a winner still because of his unique traits it was going to take the right team falling in love with him for Watson to come off the board early that team was the Houston Texans they had just traded their starter from a season ago Brock Osweiler Houston and Cleveland have reportedly agreed on a trade sending Brock Osweiler to the Browns dumping a massive 4year $72 million contract so after Mitch trabis was selected second overall and Patrick Mahomes 10th the Houston Texans select Deshawn Watson quarterback Clemson ironically Houston acquired this pick from the Cleveland Browns and to Houston marked the beginning of Watson's meteoric rise into NFL super stardom however going into his rookie season he wasn't named the starter because Tom Savage had a slightly stronger preseason he was named the weak one starter deshun Watson's first NFL start will have to wait on Tuesday Texans head coach Bill O'Brien said Tom Savage will begin the season as a starting quarterback but just like college Deshawn's time on the bench didn't last long in Houston's 2017 opening game Savage played the first half but after just 62 yards a qbr of 13. 4 and a 19point deficit he was benched which gave Watson the opportunity he needed he ended that game with 101 yards and his first career touchdown on this foury pass to DeAndre Hopkins Watson throws to the back of the end zone caught DeAndre Hopkins hello to Shan Watson Watson was named the starter for week two getting his first NFL win with 125 passing yards and this 4 9 yard rushing house call against the Bengals and he kept the momentum going in fact when October rolled around he was on fire because in week four against the Titans not only did Watson throw for 283 yards and four passing touchdowns he also added on a rushing touchdown tying the NFL record for most total touchdowns by a rookie QB in one game with five and he had five more touchdowns the following week against Kansas City in October alone Watson threw a rookie record 16 touchdowns earning AFC rookie and player of the month honors unfortunately that high didn't last long because just 2 days into November Watson tore his ACL during practice ending his season Watson ended his rookie year with 1,699 passing yards 19 passing touchdowns and two rushing TDS at the end of 2017 the Texans record without Watson starting under Center was 1- n with him 3 and3 that set up to Shawn for a huge leap in year two but the start of the 2018 season had the Texans fans concern when Deshawn returned from injury Houston opened the year 0 and3 right now we're we're we have some things to figure out but after he shook the rust off he was right back to dominating as the Texans rattled off nine wins in a row the Texans ended up winning the AFC South title and in just his second season Watson was already creeping toward top 10 quarterback status with 4,165 passing yards on 68. 3% completion and 31 touchdowns but while the regular season numbers are nice what really makes you a star is how you perform in the postseason and in Deshawn's first crack at the playoffs he threw for 235 passing yards and a touchdown and despite Houston falling to the Colts Hope was building in Houston with Watson under Center Deshawn was named to his very first pro bowl and the expectations for his third season were Skyhigh and in 2019 Watson continued to improve and the Texans won their second straight AFC South title behind Deshawn strong play he won AFC offensive player of the week honors three times including this perfect passer rating performance against Atlanta in this game he put up a career-high 426 passing yards five passing touchdowns and no picks and his numbers for the season were insane 3,852 passing yards to go with 33 total touchdowns in Houston's wildcard matchup with Buffalo Watson finished with 247 passing yards two total touchdowns and an overtime drive for the ages on second and six Watson escaped two sacks leading to this 34 ydd reception by Taiwan Jones sending up Houston for the game-winning field goal got it they went to the AFC divisional round against Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs and they started the game up 24-0 but the Texans ended up losing despite 388 passing yards and three total touchdowns from Watson it appeared to be another great season to build on but this loss to Kansas City marked the beginning of the end for the Houston Texans team because changes throughout the organization led to major issues within the team on January 28th 2020 recent hire Jack easterby was put in charge of football operations and later that year became the interim GM then all hell broke loose because on March 22nd 2020 DeAndre Hopkins Watson's top Target was traded what were your thoughts about Bill O'Brian of the Houston Texans trading DeAndre Hopkins clearly for emotion clearly because of emotion because it makes no football sense whatsoever and after trading away a franchise Legend and their best receiver they still needed to pay their Star Quarterback so Houston Inked a deal to make Watson the face of their franchise for the foreseeable future on September 5th 2020 Deshawn signed a 4-year 177.

52 largest contract in the NFL the deal was supposed to keep Watson with Houston until 2025 and arguably the most important factor of this contract was its no trade clause the thing is more changes were on the horizon because after starting the 2020 season 0 and4 longtime coach Bill O'Brien was fired and defensive coordinator Romeo kenell was named the interim head coach Bill O'Brien has been fired as the Houston Texans coach and of course he's also the GM Romeo crenell is the interim head coach but despite the chaos Deshawn had arguably the best season of his career the problem was the rest of the team would was in shambles and Houston was terrible following back-to-back AFC South titles the Texans finished Just 4 and 12 and missed the playoffs Watson still led the league in passing yards with 4,823 setting a Texans franchise record and had career bests in completion percentage and passing touchdowns but none of that mattered because Watson's video game stats weren't enough to overcome the team's atrocious defense which was one of the worst in the NFL allowing the third most yard per game and after the let down that was the 2020 season more drama ensued so if you can't go out there and you can't work out you can't show up on time you can't practice you can't want to go out there and win you shouldn't be here Houston went full rebuild in the front office and coaching staff so on January 7th 2021 Nick cerio became general manager of the Texans taking on a complete mess of a situation then less than a month later Watson officially requested a trade out of Houston Just 4 months after signing his massive deal something's going on in that organization something happened one he was still pissed off about the DeAndre Hopkins trait two Watson had wanted the Texans to interview then Chief's offensive coordinator Eric Ben enemy for the head coaching position and they didn't and three Texans owner Cal McNair ignored any of his opinions when hiring GM Nick cerio but you just don't Trade A Star Quarterback so the Texans made changes in hopes of making Deshawn happy just one day after Watson's trade request went public Houston hired Baltimore assistant coach David Cully to be their head coach a coach who was fully committed to building the team around Deshawn but just days after that JJ Watt requested to be released by the team the Texans were falling apart and it was about to get a lot worse for Watson because on March 16th 2021 shocking news broke in Houston just weeks after all the team drama allegations against deshun Watson started coming out the first civil lawsuit was filed against him regarding inappropriate conduct with massage therapists in Houston the allegations of sexual assault and inappropriate behavior against Watson are being investigated by the FBI Watson posted on social media following the news but the cases started stacking up this began a domino effect of claims against the Texans Star Quarterback in less than 3 weeks a total of 22 lawsuits were filed against him and it was revealed that in just 17 months Watson had met with 66 different massage therapists from 2019 to 2021 Watson's endorsement deals with Nike and Beats by Dr halted immediately and yet Deshawn's biggest payday was still in the not so distant future throughout the emergence of these cases Watson remained on the sidelines and he was still able to participate in offseason activities with the Texans Watson did report to training camp however he still wanted out of Houston and even with his legal problems teams still wanted him but ultimately he ended up staying in Houston and sitting out the entire 2021 season as the Texans posted another rough record of 4 and13 which led to the biggest shift in Watson's career just one week after getting cleared by a grand jury of his then 22 charges Watson was traded in a huge Blockbuster deal and this trade is another reason why Deshawn had one of the biggest falloffs in NFL history what has now been called one of the worst trades in NFL history has an interesting background remember that no trade clause in Watson's contract that Clause gave him power in this strange situation he could choose the team he wanted to go to and he ultimately settled on Cleveland so on March 8th 2022 the Houston Texans traded their then franchise quarterback and a sixth round pick to Cleveland for six different picks but giving up all those picks wasn't the worst part of the deal because the way the Browns reworked his contract backfired not only did Deshawn receive $230 million through 2026 but all that money was fully guaranteed the most in NFL history and a contract structure you never see in the NFL the Browns also pushed most of Watson's money to the end of his contract due to the possibility of him getting suspended in 2022 this helped Watson but this move would haunt Cleveland in the coming years Brown's owner Jimmy Haslam was the one who put together this contract and he continued to defend his decision saying we did what we thought was in the best interest of our team we still feel that way but the chaos that surrounded Watson just followed him to the Browns then Star Baker Mayfield requested a trade out of Cleveland in the same week and he was soon sent to the Panthers then going into the 2022 NFL season two more lawsuits were filed against Watson the attorney for the women in the Watson case is preparing to file two more civil lawsuits against Watson and that will bring the number to 26 which is staggering and in June 2022 20 out of the 24 current cases reached settlements fans were starting to wonder what this would mean for Watson's situation on the field and on August 18th 2022 we found out our breaking news is about Brown's quarterback deshun Watson we just confirmed the NFL and NFL players Association have reached an agreement on his discipline Watson will now serve an 11 game suspension and pay a $5 million fine for violating the League's personal conduct policy then on November 28th 2022 Watson was reinstated officially able to play NFL football again but he was a shell of the quarterback that he was in Houston in week 13 Watson made his Cleveland Browns debut ironically against his former team despite the 2714 win Watson had the worst passer rating of his career at 53. 4 going for 131 passing yards and an interception and this was on par with the rest of Watson's 2022 season in six games Watson had the worst output of his entire career he finished the year 3 and3 and put up 1,12 passing yards with a 58. 2 completion percentage he also had just seven passing touchdowns and five interceptions add in a qbr of 40.

4 and a passer rating of 79. 1 all of these stats were career lows oh and the Browns finished last in the AFC North posting a 7 and 10 record but many thought deshun Watson's extended absence from the game was to blame for his poor play until 2023 rolled around Watson didn't get any better but the Browns did because injuries destroyed his second year in Cleveland Watson missed weeks four and six due to a shoulder injury and in week seven he had just five pass attempts before taking this nasty fall against the Colts this would be a sign of what was to come in the first half of Cleveland's week 10 matchup against the Ravens Watson suffered a fracture in his right shoulder but in Watson's absence the Browns finished with an 11- six record making the playoffs behind Stellar play from Joe flacko Watson on the other hand played just six games for the second straight season posting a 5 in1 record but he had nearly identical numbers to 2022 putting up just 1,115 passing yards seven passing touchdowns and four interceptions he got surgery just one week after his injury saying I'm I'm very confident in my rehab and my mindset and my determination to get back strong at this point Cleveland was hoping for any return on their investment in Watson but in 2024 he's just hit rock bottom in the first week of the Season another lawsuit was filed against Watson a clear effect on his mental state and his numbers prove it through the first 6 weeks of the 2024 season both Cleveland and Deshawn were in a state of disarray I'm sick and tired of paying money for this cheap shirt this cheap hat the Browns went one and five Watson had the worst qbr in the entire league sitting at just 21.