Deshaun Watson harbors no ill will toward Cleveland after collecting $184M for 19 TDs in four seasons

Dan Dakich dives into the "desperate" Cleveland Browns as they force a high-stakes QB battle between an overrated Deshaun Watson and a humbled Shedeur Sanders.

Way down there, maybe 40 paragraphs into a feature takeout on Deshaun Watson, ESPN this week quoted someone close to the quarterback who delivered the most mind-blowing news of the NFL offseason: Watson doesn't hate Cleveland.

To quote the story, "Watson, who hasn't spoken to the media since tearing [his] Achilles [a second time, actually], has no ill will toward Cleveland, according to a source close to him."

That's so good to know. What a relief that Deshaun Watson isn't holding a grudge.

This, of course, is troubling.

Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson works out during minicamp at CrossCountry Mortgage Campus on June 12, 2025. (Ken Blaze/Imagn Images)

BROWNS' TRADE FOR DESHAUN WATSON WAS 'BIG SWING AND MISS,' TEAM OWNER SAYS

The framing of it is absurdly askew because, well, Watson has collected $184 million from the Browns the past four years while delivering 19 touchdowns in 19 starts, only in nine of which he managed to lift his team to victory.

Watson, brought to Cleveland from the Houston Texans in exchange for five draft picks, three of them first-rounders, has been the NFL's biggest trade bust this decade and possibly any decade.

He brought the baggage of an unsightly sexual assault saga tied to his escapades at massage parlors to Cleveland and after settling with the 23 women who accused him of abuse, the NFL and he agreed to an 11-game suspension that effectively made his first Browns season in 2022 a wash.

Then came the second season (2023) that was cut short by a shoulder injury and the third season (2024) that was cut short by an Achilles