The Cleveland Browns could soon have to make an interesting quarterback decision.
Dillon Gabriel is still the starting quarterback, but fans have called for Shedeur Sanders to start games. Yet, Deshaun Watson is inching closer to a return, as he could have his practice window activated in the coming weeks.
However, even if Watson is healthy, Browns insider Ken Carman doesn’t think the veteran will start or play in any games this season.
“I’m ready for someone new. I’m ready for name whoever it is,” Carman said on 92.3 The Fan. “As this season goes, I’m ready for Shedeur. I don’t have very much belief that Deshaun Watson will get his career restarted anywhere else, and even if he does, fine. The fans don’t like him here; this has been a nasty chapter in our history here. I’m getting Facebook invites for when the guy gets cut, for crying out loud.
“They don’t want him out there. If I’m looking at it from a football sense and I’m just a football coach, yeah, of course, what Albert Breer says is true. But, I’m not; I talk to fans every single day of my life. And, they don’t want him out there. The ones who do have just given up. You are curious to see Shedeur.”
Carman believes Watson’s time with the Browns was a failure, and he shouldn’t play another game for the team, even if he is healthy.
Instead, the Browns insider thinks Cleveland should stick with Gabriel and start Sanders later on in the season before finding a franchise quarterback in the offseason.
Although Carman doesn’t want to see Watson play for the Browns, the veteran quarterback is closing in on a return.
Watson has been showing videos of himself training, and Cleveland could activate his 21-day practice window very soon, according to insider Mary Kay Cabot.
“Deshaun Watson continues to make excellent progress in his comeback from a re-ruptured Achilles, but the Browns aren’t opening his 21-day practice window this week,” Cabot said, citing a league source. “The Browns will wait at least until least Week 12 against the Raiders to designate Watson for return from reserve/Physically Unable to Perform. They expect to have more clarity on his timeframe over the next couple of weeks.”
However, Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski said on Monday that he wasn’t sure what the plan for Watson is.
“I’m not sure if that’s what we’re doing,” Stefanski said.
Watson has been out for more than a year due to an Achilles injury. He had a setback in January, which resulted in a second surgery.
As Cleveland was searching for their franchise quarterback, the team made a bold move to acquire Watson from the Houston Texans.
The Browns acquired Watson in a package that included three first-round picks. Cleveland then signed Watson to a $230 million contract that was fully guaranteed.
Due to his poor play and injuries, the trade hasn’t worked out, and before the season, Browns co-owner Jimmy Haslam called the trade a big swing-and-miss.
“We took a big swing-and-miss with Deshaun,” Haslam said. “We thought we had the quarterback; we didn’t. And we gave up a lot of draft picks to get him, so we’ve got to dig ourselves out of that hole. … (The trade) was an entire organization decision and it ends with Dee (Haslam) and I, so hold us accountable.”
Watson went 9-10 as the starting quarterback for the Browns.
While the Pittsburgh Steelers suffered a lopsided 25-10 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, quarterback Aaron Rodgers failed to take advantage of a few key opportunities early in the game that could have made the outcome very different. Most notably, Rodgers overthrew wide receiver D.K. Metcalf on a play that appeared to have a great chance of being a touchdown.
But when asked about the play Wednesday, Metcalf accepted blame, saying it was his fault, not Rodgers’s, for why the connection wasn’t made.
“I had a corner post, and I saw Aaron [Rodgers] roll out to the left, so I kinda broke my route a little flatter than I should’ve,” Metcalf told reporters, via Pittsburgh Sports Now’s Brendan Howe. “I should’ve kept the route high.”
#Steelers WR DK Metcalf shouldered the blame for being overthrown by Aaron Rodgers on a would-be touchdown against the #Chargers on Sunday night:
“I had a corner post and I saw Aaron roll out to the left, so I kinda broke my route a little flatter than I should’ve. I should’ve
Metcalf could have had more yards on that one overthrow than he ended up having in the entire game. Had Metcalf caught Rodgers’ pass on the third-and-5 attempt in the first quarter, he likely would have scored a 41-yard touchdown.
“Metcalf had at least three, maybe four yards, on Chargers cornerback Elijah Molden,” Howe wrote. “The ball crashed out of reach near the 1-yard line, with the receiver in stride at the 4.”
Metcalf finished Sunday’s contest with three catches for 35 yards.
The misconnection with Metcalf on third-and-5 wasn’t the only time Sunday night Rodgers delivered a high pass. So, during the game, it was pretty easy to blame the quarterback for the failed opportunity.
In his postgame press conference, Rodgers didn’t change the narrative that the missed touchdown was his fault.
“A lot of stuff wasn’t working. We were bad on third down,” Rodgers told reporters. “I was just a little bit off. I missed DK [Metcalf] early and could’ve been a big play.”
The miss to Metcalf was one of nine failed third-down conversion attempts for the Steelers in Week 10. Rodgers and company finished 2-for-11 on third down versus the Chargers.
The Steelers need to showcase more third-down efficiency going forward. To improve in that area, Rodgers and Metcalf will have to display better chemistry than they did Sunday.
But the positive news is both big personalities held themselves accountable for the miss in Week 10.
The Steelers are asking a lot from Metcalf this year. The team had significant question marks at receiver entering 2025. Wideouts such as Calvin Austin III and Roman Wilson have done little to quiet the doubters.
Without another receiver consistently getting opener, Metcalf is seeing a lot of double coverage.
But he appears to be taking it in stride and not making excuses. As far as helping the Steelers receiver room, Metcalf is leading by example.
“First off, I gotta continue to get open,” Metcalf told reporters Wednesday. “I can’t say anything if I’m not doing my job first.
“But then, I really don’t say much to anybody in the receiver room unless they come to me with questions. … These players got here on their own, so they all have a special ability.”
Metcalf has 32 catches, 502 receiving yards and five touchdowns this season. He has twice as many receiving yards as every other Steelers pass-catcher except Pat Freiermuth, who has 260 receiving yards.
But Metcalf is still only averaging 3.6 receptions and 55.8 receiving yards per game, both of which are career lows.