Deshaun Watson was the most sought-after player throughout the offseason. Teams were awaiting his decision for days. Hoping that he would waive his no-trade clause for them. Finally, he ended up deciding on the Cleveland Browns. They offered the Houston Texans a ridiculous amount of draft capital and handed Watson one of the largest NFL contracts of all-time. It is a five-year, $230 million fully guaranteed contract.
Once the contract numbers released, everybody understood why he chose Cleveland over other teams that were in the running. How could you decline this type of contract? Although, Watson claims that money had nothing to do with his decision, which doesn’t really sound right. Watson said during a press conference, “I didn’t know about the contract until I told my agent that I wanted to come and be a Cleveland Brown. That was secondary. That had nothing to do with me choosing the Cleveland Browns.”
There were multiple reports throughout his decision-making process that said he eliminated the Browns from contention. He also turned down the Carolina Panthers job. When asked about it he said, “It wasn’t necessarily a turn-down. I think the media was kind of rushing me to make a decision and I wasn’t comfortable with making that right decision. So, the news gets out and things like that. For me, I knew Cleveland was the best situation from a football standpoint and just for a community and family atmosphere. A perfect situation for me to have a fresh start, go win some Super Bowls and move forward and build this community in the way we want to build it.”
Deshaun Watson’s Choice Wasn’t Expected
It was pretty shocking for most fans to hear that Cleveland was “perfect” situation for him. This team really only has one playoff win in over a decade. They have also been constantly flipping through head coaches and quarterbacks. The addition of Amari Cooper could have been a factor, but they also lost Jarvis Landry. Bottom line, Cleveland isn’t really in a position to go out and win Super Bowls right now. There is still a lot of work they have to do to catch up to some other teams in the AFC. The Denver Broncos and the Los Angeles Chargers are the first to come to mind. I personally believe that Deshaun Watson was aware of the money he was getting offered before making a decision. It seems probable. Although, we will never be able to know for sure how the process went down.
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