BEREA — Whether Deshaun Watson admits it, his grasp on the starting quarterback job is tenuous.
Coach Todd Monken stuck with him after a shaky performance in the 34-10 opening loss to the Jaguars. But another clunker Sunday against Tampa Bay could cause Monken to bench Watson in favor of Shedeur Sanders for the Week 3 home opener against the Panthers.
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Watson was asked Wednesday if he felt the need to have a strong individual outing to keep the job and build goodwill with the fans for the return to Huntington Bank Field.
“No, I think all that is for the media,” said Watson, who ripped the fans after he was booed during a home preseason game. “I think the media has this expectation that I’m supposed to throw 400 yards and five touchdowns every week. So until that happens, I guess it’s going to be the same situation.
“My job is to make sure I’m operating well so we can try to get a win and keep moving forward from there.”
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Watson, who turned 31 on Monday, was a three-time Pro Bowler with the Texans, including leading the league in passing in 2020. In 20 games since he joined the Browns in a 2022 trade, he’s never thrown for more than 289 yards and has thrown for more than one touchdown only five times, with a high of three.
The bar for expectations has been lowered significantly, and he still came in well under it in Jacksonville. He finished 16-for-22 (73 percent) for 205 yards, a touchdown, an interception, five sacks and a 97.7 passer rating. Before the final two drives while trailing 34-3, he had nine completions for 79 yards. His interception ended a promising first drive that advanced inside Jacksonville’s 30-yard line.
Monken was encouraged by certain aspects of Watson’s performance, including a perfectly thrown 46-yard touchdown to rookie receiver Denzel Boston. Monken was asked if Watson needs to have a strong game to remain the starter.
“I wouldn’t say that. I always expect our players to play well. I wouldn’t put them out there if I didn’t,” Monken said. “So I expect him to play really well. There was moments Sunday that he did, and there were moments we did a really good job offensively, and there were moments we didn’t. I don’t get too far ahead, because really what matters most is that we have a great Wednesday, and that’s what I can control.
“There’s not one player or coach in that locker room that I don’t have their back. He hadn’t played in 22 months and he finally got the first-team reps for, like, two weeks.”
Cornerback Denzel Ward echoed his coach.
“We’re in this together and we’re not throwing nobody under the bus or pushing anybody to the side,” he said.
Todd Monken sticking with Deshaun Watson for Week 2 vs. Buccaneers
Watson’s most recent regular-season game had been Oct. 20, 2024, when his Achilles tendon tore for the first of two times. It was a span of 693 days between starts.
“There’s always things that you can build on,” he said. “This is my first real game in two years, so there’s some good things, there’s some things that we want to correct. So just overall operating as a quarterback and find a way to create successful drives, get points on the board so we can have a chance to win again.”
Watson didn’t look comfortable in the pocket, including taking seven-step drops out of the shotgun. One of those came on the touchdown to Boston, another on a sack.
“We need to be more consistent in our drops overall at quarterback,” Monken said. “There’s a lot of things we’ve got to be more consistent at collectively as a team. That’s just one piece of it.”
“Obviously we just want to keep pushing the needle,” tight end Harold Fannin Jr. said. “As time goes on, it’s only going to get better. It can only go up from here.”
The focus on Watson is even sharper this week given the matchup with Buccaneers quarterback and former Browns No. 1 pick Baker Mayfield. The Browns traded for Watson in 2022 despite having Mayfield, who had led them to the playoffs in 2020.
Watson and Clemson beat Mayfield and Oklahoma in the 2015 Orange Bowl.
“My main focus is trying to figure out what their defense is doing so we can find ways to be successful and get points,” Watson said when asked about Mayfield. “So as far as that, I respect Baker and everything he did ever since college. He’s a hell of a player, hell of a quarterback, and they paid him for a reason.”
