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'He has played a lot of football': Browns downplay rust as Deshaun Watson returns

Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson runs drills during the NFL football team's football training camp in Berea on Monday.
Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson runs drills during the NFL football team's football training camp in Berea on Monday.

BEREA — Deshaun Watson's faced a lot of questions about his return from his 11-game NFL suspension. He's provided answers to some, and avoided others.

There's one question that not even Watson could provide an answer to if he wanted. When he walks out with the Browns' starting offense on Sunday in Houston, what kind of impact will the nearly two-year layoff have on his play?

“Honestly, I am not sure," Watson said this week. "This is my first time having time off. My biggest focus is just going out there, and just really whatever (coach) Kevin (Stefanski) calls, make sure I am executing, taking it one play at a time, and let the game come to me, not press or anything like that.”

The last time Watson played in a regular-season game was on Jan. 3, 2021. At the time, he was still the starting quarterback for the Texans, not the quarterback starting against them.

Watson sat out the entire 2021 season while involved in a dispute with the Texans organization that didn't involve the allegations by more than two-dozen women of sexual assault and sexual misconduct during massage appointments. Those allegations, though, prevented Houston from being able to complete a deal by the trade deadline during that season.

Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson heads for the locker room after working out during training camp on Friday, July 29, 2022, in Berea.
Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson heads for the locker room after working out during training camp on Friday, July 29, 2022, in Berea.

 

The Texans finally dealt Watson to the Browns on March 18, with a personal conduct policy suspension looming from the NFL. That suspension, which was originally set at six games, was extended to 11 games through a settlement between Watson and the league.

"I’m sure there will be a little bit of taking it slow," defensive end Myles Garrett said Friday. "Trying to get those short throws, easy throws in and getting his confidence up or those runs and spreading the ball across the field as it begins to expand, and then once he feels warm and feels like he can make those bigger throws I think his confidence will come back pretty quickly and he’s going to start airing it out.”

There's been a number of players who have missed a full year or more due to injury. However, there have been few comparable situations dealing with off-the-field personal conduct suspensions.

The closest comparison one could make to Watson's situation is Michael Vick's time off while he was serving a prison sentence on animal cruelty charges. Vick sat out the entire 2007 and 2008 seasons before coming back on Sept. 27, 2009, for the Philadelphia Eagles, a span of more than 1,000 days between games.

Vick, though, wasn't the Eagles' starting quarterback for that game, or really, most of that season. Watson was always projected to be the Browns' starter once he came back from suspension, which is how he tried to prepare himself even while sidelined.

“Mostly it is the mental part of the game, understanding it, adapting and adjusting to different schemes and defenses that coordinators are trying to do not just for our scheme and our system but for everybody," Watson said. "I watched everybody. I watched a lot of different quarterbacks. … I am not the guy that kind of [watches] just myself. I like to watch other quarterbacks, and I am a fan of a lot of different quarterbacks around the league. I have so much respect for everyone. I want everyone to succeed so I can be able to learn from them and apply it to my game.”

Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson calls a play in the huddle during training camp on Saturday, July 30, 2022 in Berea.
Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson calls a play in the huddle during training camp on Saturday, July 30, 2022 in Berea.

 

Working on the mental side of things is all well and good. However, it's still not the same as playing in actual NFL games.

When Watson finally does do that for a regular-season game, it'll be 700 days since that last start for the Texans. However, the Browns are hoping that the three weeks of on-field practice reps he's received have at least provided him with the ability to get some of the rust knocked off his game.

"I think a lot of that’s what we’ve been going through the last couple weeks as he’s been in the building and certainly this week of practice where he’s getting a lot of the reps and trying to get extra reps with some of the guys that just build that trust and build that feeling where he knows how guys coming in and out of breaks and where they’re gonna be in the route," quarterbacks coach Drew Petzing said Friday. "Some of that’s just conversation, ‘Hey, what are you thinking at the top of this route?’ or ‘What are you gonna do versus this coverage?’ I think the more he can do that and has done that, I think it’s gonna help knock some of that off. Certainly trying to push that over these last couple weeks has been big."

Practice is one thing, however. Playing in a game is a completely different animal.

Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson, right throws a pass during the NFL football team's football training camp in Berea on Wednesday.
Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson, right throws a pass during the NFL football team's football training camp in Berea on Wednesday.

 

Watson does have a certain number of game reps under his belt this season. They may have preseason game reps, but they're still game reps.

The Browns started Watson in their preseason opener on Aug. 12 in Jacksonville. He played roughly nine plays over three series in that game, completing 1 of 5 passes for 7 yards.

No one — not Watson, nor any of the coaches — is comparing a handful of plays in August to a regular-season game. What that opportunity did provide, though, was for him to at least have gone through the mechanics of game operations with a new team and a new coaching staff for whom he had never played.

Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson (4) looks for a receiver as he is pressured by Jacksonville Jaguars defensive end Roy Robertson-Harris (95) during the first half of an NFL preseason football game, Friday, Aug. 12, 2022, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)
Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson (4) looks for a receiver as he is pressured by Jacksonville Jaguars defensive end Roy Robertson-Harris (95) during the first half of an NFL preseason football game, Friday, Aug. 12, 2022, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

 

“Our biggest plan for that three series was just operational — hearing Kevin in the headset, being able to adapt to how he was calling plays and how different personnel groupings are coming in," Watson said. "That was our biggest thing, not so much of trying to do what it is for a game plan. It is still preseason. We were still trying to figure out who we are as an offense.

"My first time hearing Kevin in the headset, that is what we wanted to do. I think it was maybe nine or 10 plays. Of course, we wanted to be more successful, but at that time that is something that we can learn, and that is why it is called preseason.”

Watson was rarely touched in that preseason game. That doesn't figure to be the case in a regular-season game starting Sunday in Houston.

There's nothing the Browns were going to do during practice this week to replicate that contact. Instead, they're banking on it being much like riding a bike for Watson once he gets out there and starts getting the usual hits that come with playing quarterback in the NFL.

“He has played a lot of football in his life," Stefanski said. "It is part of the game. I don’t think it is something that concerns him, per se. He has his job to do.”

Contact Chris at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com.

On Twitter: @ceasterlingABJ

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Cleveland Browns downplay rust with Deshaun Watson after long layoff