Breaking: The Deshaun Watson Era in Cleveland is over! No.1 Pick Expected to Be the New Face of the Franchise
The Cleveland Browns ignored the evidence for a long time, as they tried to will one of the worst decisions in the history of professional sports into something other than what it was, but the franchise’s Deshaun Watson era has definitively come to an end.
That was the message that ESPN’s Mina Kimes sent in the latest edition of “The Mina Kimes Show featuring Lenny,” which aired on Tuesday, Dec. 3.
“Jameis Winston is 31 years old. There’s no … real benefit for [the Browns] from moving on from Deshaun Watson, but there’s no reason for them to play him at this point,” Kimes said. “I think we can all safely say it’s over.”
“They don’t have a lot of money to spend at the quarterback position. … They’re gonna be picking probably in the top half of the draft, almost definitely. It’s not a good quarterback draft,” Kimes continued. “My feeling is, without having a really strong sense of those quarterbacks and who might be a good fit, it would be, I think, a reasonable approach for them to see if they can get Winston back on short-term, reasonable, middle-class quarterback type deal and continue just trying draft picks, seeing if someone sticks. Because it’s going to take them a while to get out from under that Watson contract.”
Winston, a former No. 1 overall pick by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 2015 NFL draft, signed a one-year, $4 million contract with the Browns for the 2024 season.
He has a big arm and has led the league in both passing yards (5,109) and interceptions (30) in the same season (2019). He has led Cleveland to wins over the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers in five games as the Browns’ starter this season, during which he is 2-3.
The quarterback also authored a highly exciting performance in a loss to the Denver Broncos on the Dec. 2 edition of Monday Night Football, throwing for 497 yards, 4 touchdowns and 3 interceptions, two of which were returned for touchdowns.
