SOME TEAMS ARE punchlines. Organisations like the LA Clippers and Seattle Mariners who have never even reached their sport’s respective finals despite decades of existence. Or once-conquering giants like Manchester United who have fallen on hard times.
They are all obvious targets for rival fans looking for a good belly laugh. But they are Christmas cracker jokes compared to the Anthony Jeselnik-surreality of the Cleveland Browns.
The Browns are a team so historically bad that for years if you asked Siri, Apple’s personal voice assistant, to tell you where sadness was, it would respond with a photo directing you to Cleveland Browns Stadium, the team’s home since it opened in 1999.
That this is not a joke, but a real thing that happened, is one of the saddest indictments of a team with 23 losing seasons and just three playoff appearances since it returned to the National Football League in 1999.
But, to fans of the Browns, they are no laughing matter. This is a fanbase who could only watch on helplessly as Art Modell decided Baltimore was a better location for the Browns than risking hypothermia on the banks of Lake Erie. When your team ceases to exist for three years, watching them lose is better than not watching them at all.
On 18 March 2022, the Browns organisation decided they were tired of losing and bet the future of the franchise on then 26-year-old quarterback Deshaun Watson. To get him from the Texans, they had to send Houston three first-round picks (2022, 2023 and 2024), as well as a third-rounder (2023), and two fourth-round picks (2022 and 2024).
After completion of the trade, the Browns gave Watson a fully guaranteed five-year deal worth $230 million (€209m), at that stage the largest guaranteed contract in NFL history.
Watson signed for the Browns in 2022. Ron Schwane / AP / Alamy
Ron Schwane / AP / Alamy / AP / Alamy
It’s a lot of money, but Watson was a former college national champion, having led the Clemson Tigers to success in 2016. And in his five years with the Texans, he was sent to the Pro Bowl three times, led the league in passing yards in 2020, and took the team to the playoffs twice.
Advertisement
The problem for the Browns was that Watson had sat out the entirety of the 2021 season because of “non-injury reasons/personal matter”. Just one week earlier, a grand jury had declined to indict him on criminal charges related to “harassment and sexual misconduct”, but Watson still faced 27 civil lawsuits from more than two dozen women, many alleging sexual misconduct, and assault.
Watson has denied any wrongdoing. Of the 27 lawsuits, he has since settled 24, while one was withdrawn shortly after being filed.
On the field, his time with the Browns has not been successful. After an NFL investigation into the allegations against him, Watson was suspended for the first 11 games of the 2022 season. The following year he started just six games, and in week seven of the 2024 season, he ruptured his Achilles, something that saw him miss the entirety of last season too.
This year has been different. Cleveland are 4-2, with wins over divisional rivals Baltimore and Pittsburgh already in the books. And there are some mutterings about Watson being in contention for the AP Comeback Player of the Year, the NFL’s award for players returning from “illness, physical injury, or other circumstances that led him to miss playing time the previous season”.
Watson, centre, and the Browns have started this season with a 4-2 record. Matt Slocum / AP / Alamy
Matt Slocum / AP / Alamy / AP / Alamy
NFL broadcasters seem especially confused as to how to cover Watson. This is not your typical feel-good comeback story. And while they are somewhat helped by the fact that the Browns are rarely on prime time, that may change if they continue to win.
This poses a dilemma for national media in the US, but hopefully they will have learned from Cleveland’s 27-24 win against Pittsburgh earlier this month when the Thursday Night Football crew appeared to downplay Watson’s history.
Firstly, Al Michaels told viewers that “we don’t have to go through the whole Deshaun Watson thing”. Then analyst Tony Gonzalez said he was “proud” of Watson for overcoming “adversity on the field and off the field”.
Covering off-the-field issues is something broadcasters often shy away from. When Tyreek Hill was the best wide receiver in football and helping Kansas City win a Super Bowl, there was no lyrical way to talk about his conviction for choking and punching his then-pregnant girlfriend in the stomach. But, like Watson’s lawsuits, it was just as important to his story.
For fans too, it poses complicated questions and is yet another example of sport becoming less and less of an escape from the ‘real’ world.
There was a time when many neutrals would have been happy to see the Browns have sustained success. But when the cost is a Deshaun Watson redemption story, the price might be too high to pay.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Close
Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic.
Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy
here
before taking part.
Deshaun Watson: The NFL story that broadcasters don't know how to talk about
SOME TEAMS ARE punchlines. Organisations like the LA Clippers and Seattle Mariners who have never even reached their sport’s respective finals despite decades of existence. Or once-conquering giants like Manchester United who have fallen on hard times.
They are all obvious targets for rival fans looking for a good belly laugh. But they are Christmas cracker jokes compared to the Anthony Jeselnik-surreality of the Cleveland Browns.
The Browns are a team so historically bad that for years if you asked Siri, Apple’s personal voice assistant, to tell you where sadness was, it would respond with a photo directing you to Cleveland Browns Stadium, the team’s home since it opened in 1999.
That this is not a joke, but a real thing that happened, is one of the saddest indictments of a team with 23 losing seasons and just three playoff appearances since it returned to the National Football League in 1999.
But, to fans of the Browns, they are no laughing matter. This is a fanbase who could only watch on helplessly as Art Modell decided Baltimore was a better location for the Browns than risking hypothermia on the banks of Lake Erie. When your team ceases to exist for three years, watching them lose is better than not watching them at all.
On 18 March 2022, the Browns organisation decided they were tired of losing and bet the future of the franchise on then 26-year-old quarterback Deshaun Watson. To get him from the Texans, they had to send Houston three first-round picks (2022, 2023 and 2024), as well as a third-rounder (2023), and two fourth-round picks (2022 and 2024).
After completion of the trade, the Browns gave Watson a fully guaranteed five-year deal worth $230 million (€209m), at that stage the largest guaranteed contract in NFL history.
It’s a lot of money, but Watson was a former college national champion, having led the Clemson Tigers to success in 2016. And in his five years with the Texans, he was sent to the Pro Bowl three times, led the league in passing yards in 2020, and took the team to the playoffs twice.
The problem for the Browns was that Watson had sat out the entirety of the 2021 season because of “non-injury reasons/personal matter”. Just one week earlier, a grand jury had declined to indict him on criminal charges related to “harassment and sexual misconduct”, but Watson still faced 27 civil lawsuits from more than two dozen women, many alleging sexual misconduct, and assault.
Watson has denied any wrongdoing. Of the 27 lawsuits, he has since settled 24, while one was withdrawn shortly after being filed.
On the field, his time with the Browns has not been successful. After an NFL investigation into the allegations against him, Watson was suspended for the first 11 games of the 2022 season. The following year he started just six games, and in week seven of the 2024 season, he ruptured his Achilles, something that saw him miss the entirety of last season too.
This year has been different. Cleveland are 4-2, with wins over divisional rivals Baltimore and Pittsburgh already in the books. And there are some mutterings about Watson being in contention for the AP Comeback Player of the Year, the NFL’s award for players returning from “illness, physical injury, or other circumstances that led him to miss playing time the previous season”.
NFL broadcasters seem especially confused as to how to cover Watson. This is not your typical feel-good comeback story. And while they are somewhat helped by the fact that the Browns are rarely on prime time, that may change if they continue to win.
This poses a dilemma for national media in the US, but hopefully they will have learned from Cleveland’s 27-24 win against Pittsburgh earlier this month when the Thursday Night Football crew appeared to downplay Watson’s history.
Firstly, Al Michaels told viewers that “we don’t have to go through the whole Deshaun Watson thing”. Then analyst Tony Gonzalez said he was “proud” of Watson for overcoming “adversity on the field and off the field”.
Covering off-the-field issues is something broadcasters often shy away from. When Tyreek Hill was the best wide receiver in football and helping Kansas City win a Super Bowl, there was no lyrical way to talk about his conviction for choking and punching his then-pregnant girlfriend in the stomach. But, like Watson’s lawsuits, it was just as important to his story.
For fans too, it poses complicated questions and is yet another example of sport becoming less and less of an escape from the ‘real’ world.
There was a time when many neutrals would have been happy to see the Browns have sustained success. But when the cost is a Deshaun Watson redemption story, the price might be too high to pay.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
American Football Cleveland Browns Deshaun Watson NFL Sexual Misconduct Sports Media The Redzone