Browns insider suggests Kevin Stefanski needs 'clearance' for Deshaun Watson move

Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski insisted this week he ultimately has the final say regarding decisions such as whether or not quarterback Deshaun Watson will be benched amid Watson's struggles and the club's 1-4 start to the season.

Browns insider Zac Jackson of The Athletic indicated Stefanski might need general manager Andrew Berry and/or team owner Jimmy Haslam to sign off on playing backup Jameis Winston if Watson produces a dud in this Sunday's game at the 2-2 Philadelphia Eagles.

"Another poor performance this week would not only bring the team’s fourth straight loss but also force Stefanski to get whatever organizational clearance necessary to make significant changes," Jackson wrote. "Maybe he’d get that clearance. Maybe he wouldn’t. In either case, the Browns have to show they’re right in sticking with Watson and — at least for one week — push back the reality that they’re stuck with Watson and the just over $170M in fully guaranteed salary-cap dollars to which the team is committed through 2026."

According to ESPN stats, the Browns will enter this weekend ranked last in the NFL for the season with an average of 239.4 offensive yards per game. Additionally, Watson began Friday ranked last among qualified players with a 21.0 adjusted QBR on the campaign. He took a league-most 26 sacks over the season's first five weeks and tallied five touchdown passes with three interceptions across five games.

Former Dallas Cowboys head coach and current NBC analyst Jason Garrett warned last Sunday that Stefanski risked losing the locker room by continuing to play Watson over Winston. Hall of Fame quarterback and current NFL analyst Kurt Warner later said he felt the Browns "just can't win with" Watson in the lineup.

Fair or not, the perception exists that Stefanski is starting Watson against the Eagles only because of the fully guaranteed five-year, $230M contract the Browns gave the 29-year-old back in March 2022. If Watson plays like the worst starting signal-caller in the league at Philadelphia's Lincoln Financial Field for whatever reasons, whoever within the Browns is making the call may have to turn to Winston for the Week 7 matchup versus the Cincinnati Bengals if only so others in the Cleveland locker room don't begin making "business decisions" ahead of Halloween.