Is Deshaun Watson the most unpopular athlete in sports?

During Monday’s episode of Get Up , Mike Greenberg made the case for the Cleveland Browns’ acquisition of Deshaun Watson being “the worst transaction in the history of football.”

“They gave up five draft picks, including three first-rounders. They gave him $230 million, all of it guaranteed. His cap hit for the final two years of his deal, which mind you have not happened yet, is $72 million in each season. To lower it, they would have to sign him to an extension,” Greenberg said. “If they cut him, his dead cap hit for next year would be $172 million. They couldn’t pay Ohio State with what is left over in a salary cap, much less an NFL team, if they were to get rid of Deshaun Watson.”

Greeny’s statement wasn’t just convincing — it was practically inarguable, backed by jaw-dropping figures that somehow sound worse each time you hear them. And yet, his criticism of Cleveland’s acquisition of Watson and his unprecedented contract somehow didn’t go far enough when you factor in everything else that has surrounded his time with the Browns.

Just hours earlier, Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio reported that the 29-year-old quarterback had reached a settlement with a woman in Texas who was suing him for sexual assault and battery. The lawsuit was notable in and of itself — it’s not often an NFL starting quarterback is accused of such heinous crimes. But it was especially noteworthy considering that it marked the 24th lawsuit accusing Watson of sexual misconduct that he has settled dating back to 2022, with another two still pending and an additional one having been withdrawn.

The Browns knew about the vast majority of these lawsuits when they acquired him in a blockbuster trade with the Houston Texans in 2022, with a negotiated settlement with the NFL resulting in a negotiated 11-game suspension to start that season. While criminal charges have never been filed against the former Clemson star, the number of vile accusations against him are jarring — and yet, Cleveland decided to mortgage its future to not only acquire him, but give him a contract nearly impossible to escape from.

From a pure football standpoint — which is how he is predominantly discussed anyways — the results have been nothing short of a disaster.

After a rocky return in 2022, his up-and-down 2023 campaign was cut short after six games by a season-ending shoulder injury. Through the first five games of 2024, he’s unequivocally been the worst quarterback to start every game for his team, with the Browns laying claim to the league’s worst record at 1-4 with the toughest part of their schedule still ahead.

Considered one of the NFL’s best young rosters as recently as a few years ago, Cleveland is now an awful combination of old and expensive, with its constant restructuring of Watson’s contract only kicking the can down the road on the salary cap ramifications the Browns will face. In a season Cleveland had hoped to compete for a Super Bowl, it now seems far more likely it will land a top-five pick as its window to contend with the likes of Myles Garrett, Nick Chubb, Denzel Ward, Joel Bitonio and Amari Cooper appears to slam shut.

Sans for a handful of Browns diehards who will defend anything the franchise does and some who appear to be defiantly aligned with Watson, you’d be hard pressed to find anyone — in Cleveland or certainly elsewhere — with anything good to say about him as a player or a person. If there’s been a silver lining for the Browns over the course of the past month, it’s that they’ve spent the bulk of it on the road, as opposed to in Cleveland where he’s been booed in the bulk of his home games.

But despite Watson currently being the biggest pariah in all of sports, such conversations have predominantly focused on his disappointing play while contrasting it to what the Browns gave up — and continue to give up — by acquiring him. As ESPN’s Mina Kimes pointed out last year , Watson’s poor play has actually been convenient for most of the media; it’s much easier to dissect his disastrous QBR or EPA scores than it is to discuss sexual assault accusations and lawsuit settlements with the sensitivity and nuance required.

If Watson was playing well, all of this would be a much more difficult conversation — although, perhaps I’m naive to think that elite quarterback play wouldn’t mask even the most appalling of accusations. What I do know, however, is that the Browns’ decision to acquire Watson understandably cost them fans at the time and those who do remain — including, unfortunately, this author — largely find themselves more indifferent to the team than anything else.

For a franchise that has watched no shortage of bad quarterbacks over the course of the last 25 years, Watson is easily the least popular one. And while much of the conversation — in Cleveland and elsewhere — has only focused on his underwhelming play on the field, it’s difficult to not factor in his alleged conduct off it when considering why.

It’s all of these factors combined that make Watson a unique case in sports history. Watson is one of the most visible players in the NFL, making the most guaranteed money of any player in league history until Dak Prescott signed his deal. He’s also clearly one of the worst players in the NFL today ranking dead last in ESPN’s QBR metric. And at the same time, he is nearly universally disliked for his history of sickening allegations off the field that have continued up until last week.

Few athletes have ever had that triple threat of being a negative on the field for their play, in the front office for their contract, and for society at large for their off-field actions. Yet Deshaun Watson somehow checks every box, which makes his infamy as a sports figure historic for all the wrong reasons.

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