Jimmy Haslam: Deshaun Watson is getting a fresh start
Haslam called the trade for Watson "a swing and miss" last year.
Browns owner Jimmy Haslam is singing a different tune about quarterback Deshaun Watson this year. While discussing the team's decision to trade for Watson and sign him to a fully guaranteed contract at the league meetings last year, Haslam called it "a big swing and miss" that put the team in a hole. Watson missed the entire 2025 season after tearing his Achilles twice, but remains under contract and the word from Cleveland has been that he will have a chance to earn the quarterback job heading into the 2026 season.
Haslam sounded on board with that plan while in Arizona on Monday. Haslam said that he could have phrased things differently about Watson's time in Cleveland because the quarterback has never lacked effort and that he will get a "fresh start" under new head coach Todd Monken. "He certainly had the ability at one point, and we're cautiously optimistic," Haslam said, via Daniel Oyefusi of ESPN.
com. Shedeur Sanders and Dillon Gabriel are the other in-house options for the Browns right now, although General Manager Andrew Berry suggested that group will grow when he spoke to reporters over the weekend. The direction the Browns take with any outside move will likely help determine just how much of a chance Watson has to win the job.