Deshaun Watson shoots down idea that could potentially help Browns offense

When a team's offense looks as bad as Cleveland's does through three games (the Browns are averaging the second-fewest yards per game and third-fewest passing yards per game) that team's staggeringly highly-paid quarterback should be willing to do everything in his power to help the team get out of the proverbial gutter.

That's not the case for Deshaun Watson, who, in his endless quest to alienate Browns fans as much as possible, told ESPN he has no interest in running the ball more on designed plays. "I'm not trying to take any hits. ... I'm not a running quarterback, in a sense. I can make things happen, but I'm not trying to run," Watson said.

It's a strange answer from Watson for a few reasons — most notably that he ran for over 1600 yards and 17 touchdowns during his four years in Houston, near the top of the league in both categories.

Granted, a lot of that rushing success came on plays where Watson was making "things happen" as he phrases it, but to dismiss the idea of designed runs because he was signed by Cleveland "to throw the ball, make decisions and be a quarterback, not a runner" comes across as trite. It can't fill Browns fans with loads of optimism that their $230 million QB is so blunt about not wanting to take hits even for the sake of helping his team move the ball up and down the field.

Browns offense continues to sputter with Watson at the helm

There aren't many positive spins you can put on Cleveland's offensive performance through three weeks. Watson himself is on track for a notably bad season in Browns history, the team hasn't scored over 20 points in any of its three games and doesn't play a home game again until October 20th. This isn't just a rotten start to 2024, either, as Watson has been a hindrance to Cleveland's offense for most of his three-year tenure as a Brown.

Injuries linger, and teams shouldn't want their QBs to take hits, so it's silly to assume Browns coach Kevin Stefanski would ever ask Deshaun Watson to turn into Lamar Jackson. But Deshaun Watson has been a "running quarterback" in the past (despite what he tells you) and his unwillingness to make adjustments to his play style in 2024 because — as he says — that's not what he was brought to Cleveland to do, makes Watson sound like a player who's less interested in team success and more interested in... anything else.