There are plenty of reasons for Deshaun Watson to be booed by the Cleveland Browns faithful | Sporting News
The Sporting News · Chad Porto · 2026-08-23T13:07:10+00:00 · nguồn gốc
If you're a Cleveland Browns fan, then you likely konw there are many reasons to not be a fan of Deshaun Watson. It could be any number of reasons. For starters, the countless accusations that led to him being suspended under the NFL's Personal Conduct Policy. Maybe it's the injuries, that caused him to miss 72.1% of the games since he joined the Browns in 2022. It could be the fact that even when he's healthy, he's not played well.
It could also just be the fact that he's paid as much as he is, $230 million in guaranteed money. Heck, it could also be that the Browns will owe him money for the next four seasons whether he's on the team or not. That money will still count against the Brown's cap, hindering how much the team can do in following offseasons.
It could be that the man he replaced, Baker Mayfield, has gone on to become a Pro Bowl-caliber player and has substantially outplayed Watson.
It could even be that he's continuing to struggle on the field, despite the Browns making moves this offseason to cater to his particular style of play. In Watson's second preseason game against the Buffalo Bills, he threw for just 36 yards, going 5-12 on the night with an interception.
One of his passes was so bad, it looked like he just spiked it into the turf. It was an embarrassing outing. Yet, despite all of this, despite his poor play, the allegations, the embarrassment, the waste of draft picks to acquire him, despite it all, he still doesn't get why fans boo him.
Watson spoke to the press after the game and bemoaned the reaction of the fans, calling the boos "personal".
"I think the whole world knows it has nothing to do about the performance," Watson said via ESPN. "It's a little bit [more] personal than that. So, I think it's a disrespectful thing. So yeah, I mean, I'm going to keep whatever I feel with me and my family internally on how I feel about that. And yeah, just move on."
Watson continued to say;
"Last time I played on this field, I tore my Achilles. And that same fanbase, they cheered when I got hurt. So, what does that have to do with anything about performance? When a person gets hurt, especially for your own city and they cheer?"
His fellow quarterback in this competition, Shedeur Sanders, defended his teammate after the game while speaking to the media.
"Yeah, I mean, in general, I don't appreciate that at all," Sanders said, via the post-game press conference and Jeff Skversky. "Regardless of competition, we're all human beings. I think we all need to understand that. In this room too, we're all humans. I don't do things to humans that I wouldn't want done to me."
Sanders continued.
"It's a respect thing that I feel should be there, because we're all out there trying to do our best and serve the franchise the best way possible. We're going out there to win games, doing everything we can. So I don't really appreciate that."
The Browns faithful, right or wrong, aren't new to such controversy. Former Browns quarterback and the first man to lead the new squad to the playoffs, Tim Couch, was booed when he got roughed up in 2002. That was the year he took them to the playoffs too, so Watson's not unique to the fandom expressing their disappointment in the team's quarterback when he suffered an injury.
Watson's not popular in Cleveland, even if he once came in with a lot of defenders despite the accusations, poor performances, injuries, and an era of "what if" has eroded whatever support he would've had.
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