Deshaun Watson made a cryptic social media post on Tuesday after receiving some scathing criticism from Browns owner Jimmy Haslam.
Haslam told reporters at the league’s annual meetings that franchise’s decision to trade for Watson was a ‘big swing and miss’ that left the organization in a ‘hole.’
The passer, a three-time Pro Bowler earlier in his career with the Texans, has played just 19 games and thrown as many touchdowns for Cleveland after the team traded three first-round picks to get him and handed him a fully-guaranteed $230m deal.
Following Haslam’s remarks, Watson appeared to address the criticism on Instagram.
‘Maybe, if I weren’t built for this, I’d let it phase me ..,’ he captioned a series of photos of him working out.
The quarterback is currently recovering from two separate Achilles tears, one during the season in October and another in January.
Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam has spoken of his regret at the Deshaun Watson trade
Watson appeared to respond afterwards with a cryptic post to his Instagram account
It’s possible that he will miss the entire 2025 season, and the Browns could select his long-term successor with the No. 2 overall pick in this month’s NFL Draft.
The team also signed former first-round pick Kenny Pickett this offseason.
In addition to Watson’s injury struggles (a shoulder injury also limited him to six games in 2023) and performance issues, the team traded for him at a time when he faced 22 lawsuits from women accusing him of sexual misconduct.
As a result of violating the league’s personal conduct policy, he was suspended by the NFL for the first 11 games of the 2022 season and fined $5million.
Watson was not indicted by two grand juries but settled all but one of the 24 civil lawsuits ultimately brought against him.
Even before he got injured last season, Watson struggled for Cleveland, averaging just 164 passing yards per game in seven starts.
Watson tore his Achilles last October and again earlier this year, putting 2025 at risk
After the team’s offense thrived the rest of the way under Jameis Winston – now of the New York Giants – Cleveland could select Cam Ward or Shedeur Sanders later this month.
The team recently hosted both players at its facility.
‘The draft is huge for us,’ Haslam said.
‘It would be great if we could get ‘the quarterback,’ but we’re not going to force it. We’re going to be patient and we’re going to try to accumulate as many really good football players as we can.’
The Browns went 3-14 last year and have made the playoffs just once in the past four years.
