Quarterback QB Deshaun Watson aiming to block out ‘noise’ after 2 turbulent seasons for BrownsDeshaun Watson has shifted into self-protection modeWHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. (AP) — Deshaun Watson has shifted into self-protection mode.
Cleveland’s contentious quarterback, who has played just 12 games the past two seasons due to an NFL suspension followed by a shoulder fracture that required major surgery, said Friday that he’s worked on a new approach as he enters a critical Year 3 with the Browns.
“Honestly,” he said. “It’s really just blocking out all the (stuff), outside,” he said, using an expletive. “It was tough coming in two years, different environment, different team, different all that. So, you come in and your character’s been mentioned this way and then it kind of flips on you and you’re trying to get people to like you or improve.
But now it’s like, at the end of the day, it’s two years in and if you don’t like me or you have your own opinion, then forget it. It is what it is. So blocking out all the noise and focusing on me and focusing on what I need to do to be the best Deshaun Watson I can be for myself, my family and my teammates.”
The Browns are counting on Watson to become an elite quarterback — nothing more. They traded for him in 2022, luring him from Houston with a fully guaranteed $230 million contract that has yet to pay dividends.
Watson w as suspended 11 games by the NFL in his first season after being accused of sexual assault by more than two dozen female massage therapists in Texas. He began knocking off major rustiness last season — he also sat out 2021 with the Texans in a contract dispute — before breaking the glenoid bone in his throwing shoulder against Baltimore in Week 10.
Leave a Reply