The Cleveland Browns lost QB Deshaun Watson earlier this season to a torn Achilles. However, he has to restart his recovery process now. You just can't make this up. How many other players in the history of the NFL have torn their Achilles, only to tear it again just months later?
Well, Deshaun Watson could be the first:
Sources: #Browns QB Deshaun Watson ruptured his Achilles again, further testing showed, and he had another surgery on Thursday to repair it.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 10, 2025
Less than 3 months after the original tear, it happened again. Watson faces a longer road back, and now he could miss all of 2025. pic.twitter.com/DAppF7ykjp
The news broke late Friday morning. Regardless of what you think about Watson as a person, this is a shocking injury. An Achilles tear for an NFL player is not super uncommon, and we saw what seemed to be an abnormal amount of them in the 2023 NFL Season. Aaron Rodgers and Kirk Cousins both tore their Achilles in 2023 and seem to be physically declined.
Well, Watson has now torn his Achilles twice, and there is a distinct chance that he'll miss the entire of the 2025 NFL Season. The Browns swung a trade for Watson a couple of years ago in a major move with the Houston Texans. Cleveland essentially kicked Baker Mayfield to the curb, and since then, Mayfield has won two division titles with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The Browns can now probably move on from Watson in theory, so they can surely pivot to establishing a long-term QB situation. Cleveland might be in the free agent QB market this coming offseason. I could see them bringing in a low-cost veteran like Kirk Cousins and perhaps pairing him with a rookie QB in the 2025 NFL Draft.
In 19 games with the Browns, Watson went 9-10 with 3,365 yards, 19 touchdowns, 12 interceptions, and a 80.7 passer rating. He completed 61.2% of his passes and never seemed to figure anything out. In fact, his fall-off from his elite days with the Houston Texans was wild to watch. I do believe there is now a decent chance that we may never see Deshaun Watson play in the NFL ever again.
The Browns will do what they can to move on from Watson when it's financially possible, and there is just no way he returns to the team when he's healthy in my opinion.
When Watson is again healthy enough to return to the NFL, he could be close to 31 years old, and based on how he played with the Browns and him basically going through 1.5 Achilles' recoveries, he could be even less effective than he was when he first got to Cleveland.