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In this episode of the Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show, we're debunking myths about the Deshaun Watson debate between the Cleveland Browns and Houston Texans trade. Catch all the latest NFL news and analysis right here on the Ultimate Browns Show!
The Browns’ blockbuster trade for Deshaun Watson is finally over from the standpoint of the boatload of picks they sent to the Texans in the blockbuster deal in 2022. The three-year odyssey ended on Saturday afternoon when the Texans selected Ohio State tight end Cade Stover with the 2024 fourth-round pick from the Browns in that massive haul. The Watson deal made for three straight boring Thursday nights of the draft, with the Browns giving up the following picks: their first-rounders in 2022, 2023, and 2024, a third-round pick in 2023, and fourth-round picks in 2022 and 2024.
The Browns got Watson and a sixth-round pick in 2024, No. 203, which they sent to the Broncos in the Jerry Jeudy trade. They also sent a fifth-rounder from the Baker Mayfield trade with Carolina to the Broncos for Jeudy.
First round 2022: Offensive guard Kenyon Green after a trade down from No. 13 to No. 15.
First round 2023: Defensive end Will Anderson, after Houston used the original No. 12 pick as part of a package to move up to No. 3 with Arizona.
First round 2024: Texans traded the Browns’ first round pick, 23 overall, to the Vikings. They selected cornerback Kamari Lassiter with the second round pick from that trade, and linebacker Jamal Hill with the sixth-rounder.
Fourth round 2022: running back Dameon Pierce, pick 107.
Third round 2023: wide receiver Tank Dell after a trade up with Rams.
Fourth round 2024: Tight end Cade Stover, No. 123.
For all of that, the Browns have gotten only 12 starts out of Watson, with an 8-4 record, 3-3 in 2022 after his 11-game suspension and 5-1 last season after he suffered shoulder injuries that cost him 11 games.
He’s currently rehabbing from surgery to repair the fractured glenoid bone and partially torn labrum in his right throwing shoulder, but expects to come back better than ever by the start of this season. If he does, he’ll have a chance to salvage the trade. Heading into the third year of his fully guaranteed $230 million contract worth an average of $46 million a year, Watson is tasked with winning Super Bowls for the Browns with a loaded roster.
Meanwhile, the Texans’ have gotten some excellent production out of some of their “Watson” picks, and not so much from others.
Anderson, the rising star of the Texans’ defense, earned NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year and Pro Bowl honors in 2023, and had a sack and three tackles in the 45-14 playoff victory over the Browns in January.
Dell was off to a rousing start as a rookie in 2023 before suffering a season-ending fractured fibula in Week 13. Picked five spots before the Browns selected Cedric Tillman out of Tennessee with the No. 74 pick in the third round, Dell caught 47 of 75 targets (62.7%) passes for 709 yards and seven TDs in his 11 games, with eight starts.
Tillman, who played in 14 games with three starts, caught 21 of 44 targets (40.9) for 224 yards and 0 TDs, but the Browns have high expectations for him in 2024.
Dell (5-10, 165) was on pace for 1,205 yards and 11 TDs before the injury, with Dell and fellow rookie C.J. Stroud combining for the eighth-most passing yards (709) in NFL history by a first-year QB and receiver.
As for the Texans’ “Watson” picks from 2022 - Green and Pierce - they haven’t fared as well.
Green, out of Texas A&M, started 14 games as a rookie, but missed all of 2023 after suffering a shoulder injury in the final preseason game. In 2022, his 13% pressure rate was worst among left guards, according to Next Gen Stats.
Pierce got out to a torrid start as a rookie, rushing for 939 and four TDs in 13 games before suffering a season-ending ankle injury. He averaged 4.3 yards per carry. In 2023, he lost his starting job to Devin Singletary, rushing for only 416 yards, a 2.8-yard average and two TDs. His claim to fame in 2023 was his 98-yard kickoff return for a touchdown during the Browns’ 36-22 victory in Houston on Christmas Eve. The TD cost the Browns their Pro Bowl-caliber kicker in Dustin Hopkins, who pulled a hamstring bolting after Pierce on the return.
Based on the sheer number of players the Texans got, it currently looks like Houston in a landslide. But if Watson can return to his Pro Bowl form, and perhaps beat the Texans on a last-minute touchdown pass to Jeudy in the AFC Championship Game en route to a Super Bowl victory, the Browns can still claim victory.
The picks are done, but the trade is far from over.
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