Deshaun Watson is scheduled to start for the Cleveland Browns in Week 1 at the Jacksonville Jaguars (1 p.m. ET, CBS), a game that could represent his last significant chance to salvage his tenure in Cleveland and possibly his NFL career.
The Browns acquired Watson in March 2022, trading three first-round picks and signing him to a fully guaranteed $230 million contract after more than two dozen women accused him of sexual assault and inappropriate conduct during massage sessions, according to reporting. His time in Cleveland has been marked by suspensions and injuries, including two Achilles surgeries that cost him all of the 2025 season and 22 months between live game action.
Watson acknowledged that at age 30 and after multiple major injuries his style of play might not resemble the dual-threat quarterback he was in Houston. Still, his accuracy on downfield passes and his willingness to push the ball downfield — once hallmarks of his game — have declined and will be areas to monitor if he is to remain the Browns’ starting quarterback.
When Watson was a three-time Pro Bowl selection with the Houston Texans, he was also a top downfield passer. In 2018 he ranked third among 34 qualifying quarterbacks with a 58.8 percent completion rate on passes traveling at least 10 air yards, according to NFL Next Gen Stats. He led the NFL in passing yards in 2020 and posted a 59.9 percent completion rate on downfield attempts that season, trailing only Drew Brees, per NFL Next Gen Stats.
The numbers have slipped since. In Cleveland’s six-game return after sitting out 2021, Watson completed 53.1 percent of his downfield passes. Those marks fell to 39.3 percent in 2023 and a career-low 37.9 percent in 2024 before his Achilles tear, with a 33.3 percent off-target rate on such passes in 2023 that trailed only Panthers quarterback Bryce Young, according to NFL Next Gen Stats.
Watson’s average depth of target dropped from 9.0 yards in 2020 to 7.1 yards in 2024, and he threw downfield on a career-low 26.9 percent of his passes in 2024, after attempting 28.8 percent in 2022, per NFL Next Gen Stats. The decline coincides with a right-shoulder injury sustained in Week 3 of 2023 that led to season-ending surgery for a fractured glenoid after a Week 10 win at Baltimore. Watson said in June that it was the first time he felt 100 percent healthy since that shoulder injury. Despite that, his downfield passing was inconsistent in training camp and the preseason; in two preseason games he was 1-for-6 for 20 yards with an interception on downfield attempts, which comprised 22.2 percent of his preseason passes. Watson said Aug. 19, “That’s something I’ve always been pretty good at, especially in the past.”
