Apparently there’s a parallel universe in which Deshaun Watson actually suits up for the Cleveland Browns again. According to Honor the Land, the Browns, specifically Jimmy Haslam, could trot Watson out at the very end another, inevitable losing season to show off Watson as potential trade bait; essentially how Joe Milton III ended up in Dallas.
Under no circumstances should that happen. The Browns have already closed that door and if Cleveland is headed for yet another season with four or five wins, there’s a slim chance Andrew Berry and Kevin Stefanski come back. So why would they have any reason to listen to Haslam anyway?
It’s Haslam’s fault the Browns are in this quarterback conundrum after they threw Baker Mayfield to the wayside for a quarterback that had sexual harassment lawsuits pending and hadn’t thrown a football in two years. Of course he’s going to try and salvage the Watson situation in any way possible.
But there’s one particular detail you can’t overlook in this outlandish proposal: No team is trading for Watson. None. Haslam has already accepted his failure and throwing Watson out there as trade bait would further dig a trench between him and the fan base. He already wants to build a stadium outside of the city of Cleveland, a move like this would be a slap to the face.
Deshaun Watson shouldn't play in a Cleveland Browns uniform again
I doubt Haslam even wants to play Watson at this point. They drafted two quarterbacks in April and it’s widely believed the Shedeur Sanders pick was Haslam's. Berry and Stefanski presumably got their quarterback in the third in the form of Dillon Gabriel. Haslam is the owner and has the final say, but he’s no Jerry Jones.
He doesn’t have the power to control coaching decisions. Even if he did, what do the Browns gain from that? They’re already the mockery of the NFL. Watson has zero trade value and his contract is untradeable. Even if Cleveland could trade Watson, the only way a team would agree to it is if Cleveland took the majority of his contract, which would defeat the purpose of trading him.
So yeah, Honor the Land got it wrong on that one. Haslam knows there’s no way to salvage the miserable three years that’s involved Deshaun Watson. The only thing he and this fan base can accept is that it was a failure and it’s time to move on. They have the future already on the roster so as far as everyone is concerned, Watson is a lost cause.