Can Browns' Deshaun Watson Still Play Winning Football?

The Cleveland Browns are a team on the brink. On the brink of a lost season, and on the brink of embarrassment.

That embarrassment would come from the realization that the trade for quarterback Deshaun Watson could be labeled the worst transaction in the history of the NFL - and maybe professional sports.

Watson was traded to Cleveland from Houston with a 2024 sixth-round pick for a 2023 first-round pick, a 2022 first-round pick, a 2024 first-round pick, a 2023 third-round pick, a 2022 fourth-round pick and a 2024 fourth-round pick.

Watson has hardly performed well while with the Browns and has not played up to the value on the field. And regardless of the remaining time and money on his fully guaranteed contract, many want Watson on the bench.

But offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey doesn't blame Watson for the struggles this season and indicates it's a better all-around effort that the team needs.

"We have to be better on the offensive side of the ball. It's not just a 'point the finger at one person,' anything like that," Dorsey told reporters. "As coaches, as players, we all have to do better. It takes all 11 and it takes more than 11 on offense because you have the coaches, you have the look team giving us a good look during the week.

"You've got guys who say, 'This route was for so-and-so' then something happens in the game, his shoelace broke and somebody else has got to come in and run that route. And we have to take ownership of that. ... And it takes that mentality to be able to do that."

Wideout Amari Cooper agrees and says Watson can still play winning football.

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"Knowing how he prepares, knowing his mindset, just the type of person and player he is, I feel that way," Cooper told reporters on Thursday. "Obviously, we've gotten off to a start that we didn't necessarily want, but we've still got a lot of time to turn things around."

Maybe the team will play better without Watson and maybe it won't. But right now, it looks like we'll never know.

Watson is the guy. For now.