It's been 1,025 days since the Cleveland Browns and Deshaun Watson reached an agreement on a $230 million guaranteed contract and the Browns made the trade with the Houston Texans to acquire what they hoped would be their franchise quarterback. There was hope that Watson would elevate the offense and help lead the Browns to championship contention. But 1,025 days later and Watson has played in just 19 games over three seasons in Cleveland.
In his first year, Watson played just six games due to an 11-game suspension stemming from violating the league's personal conduct policy after dozens of allegations of sexual misconduct were filed against him. Then, in his second year, it was a season-ending shoulder injury that saw him miss 11 games last season. This past season it was an Achilles injury after he played in just seven games.RELATED: Browns focused on recovery for QB Deshaun Watson, 'possibility' he returns to play football in ClevelandNow, Watson has sustained a 'setback' in his Achilles injury recovery, according to Browns general manager Andrew Berry. The details are sparse at this point. Berry said that in their end-of-year process, all the players go through exit physicals. During Watson's physical, the quarterback brought up that something felt off. The Browns learned of the medical setback Sunday. Berry couldn't say if the setback would take Watson out for the entire 2025 season, but with an already serious injury that was expected to see him sidelined for at least part of next season, that seems like a strong possibility. Monday, for the first time since making the trade, Berry openly acknowledged the failure that it's been. 'I think that to date the trade hasn't gone as we had hoped or anticipated, hasn't gone how Deshaun has hoped or anticipated. I think certainly a big part of it is the stop-start with availability and that we never have gotten consistent performance at that position,' Berry said. 'I think there's a variety of factors in that,