The Cleveland Browns are prepared to stay with Deshaun Watson as their starting quarterback after a 2-1 start, a turn that has come with back-to-back wins and a quieter question than the one that followed Week 1: not whether he would keep the job for now, but whether he is doing enough to change what the team thinks of him long term.
That is why Watson’s play is being searched and debated today. After a season-opening loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, he helped the Browns beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Carolina Panthers in consecutive games, giving Cleveland its first back-to-back wins with him since 2023. ’s Daniel Oyefusi reported Thursday that team sources still do not see the 31-year-old as the long-term answer, but the Browns’ surprising start has shifted the conversation inside the building toward whether Watson and the Browns can build short-term momentum.
The numbers help explain why the club has stayed with him. Through three games, Watson has completed 68.3 percent of his passes for 587 yards, five touchdowns and one interception, while adding 105 rushing yards. Team sources also pointed to something less visible than the stat line: his ability to shake off negative plays and stretches without letting them snowball. That mattered after a season-opening loss when the Browns were reassessing the QB1 spot after Week 2, then moved away from a week-to-week approach after Week 3 once Watson had done enough to settle the immediate question.
Watson’s return carries more weight because he had been mostly unavailable during the fully guaranteed five-year, $230 million deal he signed in 2022, and this season is his first back after tearing his Achilles tendon in 2024. He beat out Shedeur Sanders for the Week 1 starting job in training camp, and the rest of the quarterback picture remains part of the backdrop, with Dillon Gabriel on IR with a back injury and no plans to trade either backup before the Nov. 10 deadline. Mary Kay Cabot reported last weekend that the Browns were not planning any such move.
Watson is set to start Thursday night against the Pittsburgh Steelers, with Shedeur Sanders backing him up, and that is the real story line now: Cleveland is not declaring him the answer for the future, but it is giving him the next snap because his recent play has earned that much.
