Deshaun Watson’s stalled recovery from his early peak isn’t just about health or age, according to NFL analyst Courtney Cronin of ESPN. It’s about what happens in his head once the crowd turns on him.
Cronin’s comments came two days after Watson delivered one of the shakiest performances of his four-plus seasons in Cleveland. Entering the Browns’ Saturday preseason game against Buffalo in relief of Shedeur Sanders, Watson completed just 5 of 12 passes for 36 yards and threw an interception in a 31-7 loss. Fans at Huntington Bank Field booed him from the moment his name was announced, and the jeers only grew louder as the offense stalled.
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Watson never found his footing after that, and Cronin said the moment exposed something deeper.
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“Because there’s been this conversation around: Can he ever get back to that 2019-2020 version of himself that we saw in Houston, one of the most exciting young quarterbacks in the NFL?” Cronin said on the “Unsportsmanlike” podcast on Monday.
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“And the answer isn’t just injuries have prevented that. Age has prevented that. It’s the mental … that is preventing him from going back to his full self, the self that made you trade all of those first-round picks for Cleveland to bring him there in the first place.
“I think it’s, like, the psychological warfare finally caught up with him to where how other people view him, which in the form of the fans booing him, is affecting his confidence out there. He’s rattled. There’s no way you can possibly put him out there for 17 games because you’re not playing 17 games away from Cleveland’s home stadium.”
Cronin noted the quarterback said after the game he wasn’t sure he could get past the boos through the rest of the regular season, an admission she said should alarm a franchise built around him.
Todd Monken names Deshaun Watson starter anyway
Todd Monken tapped Deshaun Watson over Shedeur Sanders as the Week 1 starter. Monken said the reaction to that news conference wouldn’t factor into his call, instead crediting Watson’s work ethic since returning from injury.
Watson has appeared in just 19 games since Cleveland traded a haul of first-round picks to acquire him from Houston. This will mark only his third Week 1 start with the Browns, who open the regular season at the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sept. 13.
Edited by Joseph Schiefelbein
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