Reporters, fans and other outsiders were left baffled as Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski continued to play struggling quarterback Deshaun Watson over backup Jameis Winston before the Browns fell to 1-6 on the same day that Watson suffered a season-ending ruptured Achilles tendon.
After Winston guided the Browns to a surprising 29-24 upset win over the Baltimore Ravens (5-3) this past Sunday, senior Cleveland sports columnist Jason Lloyd of The Athletic ripped those responsible for letting Watson accumulate such a woeful record before his injury.
"[They were] trying to prove the contract was a valid decision. It wasn’t," Lloyd said about the Browns playing Watson during Monday's edition of the "Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show," per Arthur Weinstein of Awful Announcing. "We knew that by the end of September. And they wrecked their own season. They sabotaged their own season to try and prove some sort of point."
Of course, Lloyd was referring to the fully guaranteed five-year, $230M contract the Browns gave Watson to convince him to accept a trade from the Houston Texans in March 2022. According to Pro Football Reference, Watson began Tuesday ranked last in the NFL among qualified players with a 22.8 adjusted QBR and 30th with a 33.3% passing success rate on the season. He tossed five touchdown passes and three interceptions before his injury.
Numerous members of the NFL community remain convinced that Browns general manager Andrew Berry and/or team owner Jimmy Haslam essentially forced Stefanski to play Watson through Week 7. With Watson sidelined indefinitely, Winston completed 27-of-41 passes for 334 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions against Baltimore.
"The season didn’t have to go this way," Lloyd added during his rant about the Browns. "They didn’t have to be a 2-6 football team and out of the playoffs already… Whoever’s decision that was, whether it was Kevin Stefanski or someone above him, whoever insisted they keep running Deshaun out there shoulders the blame for what happened to this season."
As of Tuesday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook listed the Winston-led Browns as two-point underdogs for this coming Sunday's home game against the 4-3 Los Angeles Chargers. Winston winning a second straight start could cause some Cleveland players to wonder what would have been had Stefanski sat Watson when the club was 1-4.
