Dan Orlovsky Reveals Why Cleveland Browns Should Start Jameis Winston Over Deshaun Watson

In the opening week of the 2024 NFL season, the Cleveland Browns suffered a heavy defeat to the Dallas Cowboys, with a final score of 33-17.

Quarterback Deshaun Watson was a significant factor in the Browns' disappointing start. He only completed 24 of 45 passes for 169 yards, alongside one touchdown and two interceptions.

Throughout the day, the Cleveland offense appeared largely ineffective, with Watson seeming uncomfortable at every turn.

The Browns are coming off a 2023 season where they exceeded expectations after suffering multiple injuries to key players, including Watson. Switching between a franchise-record five starting quarterbacks, they were led by the sudden reemergence of former Super Bowl champion Joe Flacco, who willed the team to the playoffs with an 11-6 record by elevating offensive stars Amari Cooper and David Njoku to Pro Bowl status.

Despite losing to the Houston Texans 45-14 in the AFC Wild Card, Cleveland's ability to fight against the odds garnered praise from NFL media and fans. Flacco, who was without a team for eleven weeks, secured the Associated Press Comeback Player of the Year award by clinching a playoff spot and winning four out of his five starts.

Heading into the 2024 campaign, NFL supporters hoped that the Browns can see the team build off of last season and elevate themselves as potential Super Bowl contenders. However, their display to start this season left a lot to be desired, especially for the returning Watson.

Watson's performance was notably poor for a Week 1 showing, leading Dan Orlovsky to suggest on Monday's edition of Get Up that the Browns should contemplate benching their $230 million quarterback in favor of backup Jameis Winston to improve offensive play.

"Quarterback is a problem in Cleveland," the ESPN analyst said. "And if I was (head coach) Kevin Stefanski I'd be thinking long and hard about Jameis Winston and moving him to be my starting quarterback. They can't run anything in Cleveland... Can't run it with Deshaun because Deshaun isn't ready to operate the play-action pass. He doesn't see the field well. He's not throwing with rhythm and timing. He's missing receivers by six, seven yards. Not feet."

It's important to recognize that the Browns were without their starting left and right tackle in yesterday's game. This gave Micah Parsons and the rest of the Cowboys' defense the opportunity to achieve six sacks for the day.

In other words, the conditions were less than ideal for Watson to overcome a whole offseason of rust. Despite this, he had a dismal performance, putting the Browns in a difficult position.

Watson is in the third year of his unprecedented five-year, fully guaranteed $230 million contract. As things stand, Cleveland has no hope of receiving anything in a trade for him, especially if the team decides to bench him in favor of Winston.

Moreover, winning football games becomes a challenge if Watson is not only missing throws but also unable to effectively run the offense. If the Browns continue to lose, it will be the decision-makers who face repercussions, not Watson, due to his contract situation.

They are indeed in a tough spot, unless Watson can quickly improve his performance.

Related: Browns Fans Convinced They've Found Deshaun Watson's Burner Account