Even Cleveland media thinks Browns QB Deshaun Watson looks bad

Deshaun Watson has looked lackluster in joint practices against the Philadelphia Eagles, but one Browns media member took things a bit further.

Watson threw three interceptions (at least) in Browns joint practices against the Eagles this past week. Watson did not take kindly to reporter Elliot Shorr-Parks reporting his on-field flaws in judgement, and responded with a ‘cap’ emoji, basically calling out Shorr-Parks for keeping training camp stats at all.

Watson has been outplayed by rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson, and even Joshua Dobbs at various points this preseason. Not much of that is on Watson, however, as he usually only plays one drive a game (at most) in preseason action. That’s unlikely to change moving forward.

However, it’s not just the Eagles and national media all over Watson. Even in Cleveland, Watson has not looked good so far in camp.

Cleveland Browns media acknowledges poor play from Deshaun Watson

Zac Jackson at The Athletic reported that Watson’s stock was down somewhat, as the passing game has not exactly looked enthralling so far in training camp, even against the Browns defense.

Per Jackson, “The passing game has been completely unimpressive. Anything that involves Deshaun Watson remaining in the pocket has been an adventure, and not since early in camp have we seen strings of consecutive completions in any 11-on-11 period…There just hasn’t been much consistency, and there hasn’t been much of anything more than 10 yards downfield. Watson threw bad interceptions after getting caught locking in on one receiver each day of the joint practices.”

Jackson did list a couple of ‘wow’ moments, including a throw by Watson to David Njoku. Amari Cooper and Elijah Moore have also been limited participants thus far, so he’s not playing with his top targets.

It’s reasonable to expect Watson to play better come the regular season. It’s also fair to point out his flaws so far.