BEREA — It's not a physical trait, per se. It has been, however, turned into a cliche of sorts to speak of availability as the best ability.
Quarterback Deshaun Watson's last three seasons, two of those with the Browns, have been defined by an inability to maintain consistent availability. He's started just 12 games in that time, all of those over the last two years since Cleveland acquired him from the Houston Texans in March 2022.
No one understands that better than Watson himself.
"I missed a lot of football," Watson said during last month's minicamp, where he was limited to just individual and 7-on-7 drills in his recovery from November shoulder surgery. "I took off one year in ’21, ’22 I had a (personal conduct policy) suspension (for allegations of sexual assault and sexual misconduct in massage appointments), then last year an unfortunate (shoulder) injury, so that's one thing that you can't ask to get is that time. You’ve got to be available, and I wasn't available the last two years for whatever circumstances.
"But, God willing, just taking 'em one day at a time and I am available, those reps will come and I continue to get better each and every rep."
During Watson's first season in Cleveland, the question was about rust because he had sat out more than a year and a half worth of regular-season games. Now, the question is about recovery and rehab after a season-ending shoulder surgery he underwent last November.
However, the bigger question remains the same one that has existed from the first day Watson walked into Browns headquarters: Can he ever return to the version of himself who was a three-time Pro Bowler with the Texans or one who at least resembles that version of himself?
That question continues to hang in the ether with the Browns a little more than three weeks away from players reporting for training camp. It is, yet again, the "big thing" to which so many are tying the team's ability to succeed this season.
"Each and every fan, each and every media person, they want to see me at a level that I'm capable of doing," Watson said. "So that's the standard and so I’ve got to make sure I hold myself to it so it's not a bad thing, it's not anything like that.
"I don't get involved with people trying to rate me places where they think I'm at the bottom of the list. It is what it is. If I was at the bottom, no one would talk about me. So obviously if anyone is talking about me and going to continue to talk about me, then I must be pretty damn good."
There's no question that at one point Watson was, in his own words, "pretty damn good." The last three seasons he actually played in Houston, from 2018-20, he was pretty much universally viewed as someone who was definitely a top-five to top-10 quarterback in the league.
Browns offensive coordinator talks QB:How does Ken Dorsey plan on maximizing Deshaun Watson in the new Browns offense?
The key to those seasons? Availability. When he's played at least 15 games in a season, which he did every year from 2018-20, Watson has played at a Pro Bowl level.
When Watson has missed time in a season, it hasn't gone well. He played in 19 of a possible 67 combined games in his four non-Pro Bowl seasons, ending both his rookie season in 2017 and last season with November trips to the injured reserve list.
Last year was even more disappointing in that regard for the Browns, even though they did win 11 games and reach the playoffs, because of the timing of Watson's absences. Almost inevitably they were immediately on the heels of what felt like a breakthrough.
Throw for 289 yards and two touchdowns in Week 3 win over the Tennessee Titans? Miss three of the next four starts — and leave that one start a quarter of the way through it — due to a rotator cuff strain.
Go 14-of-14 passing for 139 yards, a touchdown and a 2-point conversion run in the second half to lead a rally from 15 points down at the Baltimore Ravens in Week 10? Miss the rest of the season when it was revealed three days later Watson he had suffered a broken glenoid that required surgery.
Were either or both of those performances signs of a corner turning for Watson with the Browns? It's hard to say, because every time they turned the corner last year, they ran into a wall.
Which brings everyone to where they'll be later this month, which is once again asking what Deshaun Watson awaits the Browns this season. It's a question that won't have its answer when they arrive at the Greenbrier on July 25, nor when they open the regular season on Sept. 8 against the Dallas Cowboys.
The reality is no one will have an answer to their satisfaction until the season comes to an end. That group includes Watson himself.
“For me, it’s another opportunity for myself to just get on the field," Watson said in mid-April. "I'm not making it bigger than what it naturally is. If I would've played the full year and we would've won the Super Bowl, it would've been the same idea and vice versa.
"So for me it's just taking it one day at a time, building a leadership that we built and carried over from last year and getting this team exactly where we need to get to and to get ready to play each and every week.”
Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ
Local Cleveland, OH
Most Popular
Comments / 0