Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson, tabbed as the starting quarterback on Monday by first-year head coach Todd Monken, offered an explanation about his controversial comments from a press conference over the weekend.
Watson, who previously stayed he didn’t care about the boos from the fans, apparently felt completely different following Saturday’s preseason game. Watson was booed before the game against the Buffalo Bills, he was booed during the game, and he was even booed afterwards. He is human, and he reacted negatively in a post-game press conference, ripping the fans for booing him, and even ripping the fans who cheered when he was injured in October 2024.
Deshaun Watson Clarifies Comments Monday
Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
In a press conference on Monday, once cooler heads prevailed, he explained himself better, trying to smooth things over with the fanbase:
“First off, I want to address the comments from Saturday after the game,” Watson said to begin his presser. “I think just human nature and myself being very emotional, putting a lot of time these last two years to get back, spend time in this facility, in the city, meeting a lot of different people in the community, I thought I was going to get a little different response. But I think my emotions got the best of me, and my comments weren’t intended to go at any of the fans around the city, because there’s been a lot of great fans that have been supporting me.”
Watson has a base salary of $1.3 million after an offseason restructure, and he received a restructure bonus of approximately $44.7 million to help the team with salary cap relief. So, he has a cap hit of $40.96 million for 2026, so there would have been little sense in releasing him, which has been bandied about by jilted fans and some talking heads.
Watson will be the starting quarterback in Week 1 against the Jacksonville Jaguars at EverBank Stadium on September 13, with Shedeur Sanders as the backup signal caller.
Watson will be an unrestricted free agent following the 2026 season, so perhaps he’ll find motivation in that, although it’s hard to imagine organizations lining up to sign him after his tumultuous stay in Cleveland. Still, big stats and wins mean everything in this league, and if Watson can still get back to his production from his time with the Houston Texans, somebody is likely to take a shot on him if the price is right.
