This past week, the public relations blitz pumping up Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson seemed to resume. We had JW Johnson talking him up, and then Mary Kay Cabot of the Plain Dealer highlighting her ‘breaking news’ that Watson was the favorite to be the No. 1 quarterback, and should be named such as soon as possible.
Tony Grossi poked back at Cabot in his recent column, noting that of course Watson, with his experience, would probably look the best among the quarterbacks at this early
juncture. He notes that the team might be lightly talking him up in the event he does win the competition, but that nothing is guaranteed yet.
This morning, we have a report from Jason La Canfora. Formerly a national reporter for the NFL Network and CBS Sports, he has taken a little bit of a step back from the limelight as a breaking news insider, but is still in the business. His article today talked about how Browns ownership is pushing the story of Watson as the starter. La Canfora cites a GM — which I assume to be a current NFL general manager — who expressed the following about where the sudden hype train on Watson stems from:
“Dude, you know exactly where this is coming from. Jimmy Haslam has paid this guy $180M and he’s got nothing to show for it… He’s trying to get blood from a stone but it’s not going to work. Watson is done.”
La Canfora notes that some league sources think the Browns’ ownership is hoping that Watson “can show enough form to secure a free-agent deal elsewhere next year, potentially delivering the franchise a compensatory draft pick in return.”
“That’s not going to happen,” the GM said. “We’ve seen enough of this guy to know that’s not going to happen.”
We’ll see how the craziness of this all unfolds. My personal take, though, is even if there is some noise, I do not see head coach Todd Monken as letting anyone other than himself dictate who will be under center as the No. 1 quarterback.
