While the hate for the Cleveland Browns star quarterback Deshaun Watson was already on par among the Browns fans, his return to the league after nearly two years has not helped him win back fans. He showcased poor performance against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday in a 34-10 loss.
Watch What’s Trending Now!
Watson returned to regular-season play for the first time since his October 2024 Achilles injury, which he re-injured during rehab. But what was supposed to be a comeback game turned out to be a disaster for him, as he completed 16-of-22 passes for 205 yards, including one touchdown and an interception.
But what was more intriguing was the fact that a copule of Cleveland fans wore anti-Deshaun shirts during the game, with “B**** I need a massage” and “Deshaun f****** Watson” texts written on them, according to an X post by NFL analyst Lindsey Ok.
This comes after Watson faced 27 misconduct allegations tied to massage appointments, leading to an 11-game suspension in 2022 for violating the league’s personal conduct policy, though most of the lawsuits against Watson were settled in 2022.
Watson was also fined $5 million dollars and had to undergo a mandatory evaluation before being reinstated by the league. Watson won the starting job over Shedeur Sanders in camp and preseason. The fans made clear they disagreed.
Watson had to deal with booing during a preseason game last month. Watson called the boos “personal” and “disrespectful,” insisting they had nothing to do with his on-field play. But that wasn’t it, as he faced the same treatment in this loss against the Jaguars, with fans booing him at EverBank Stadium while also chanting for Sanders to be on the field instead. Watson was also critical of his performance amidst all the hate he received during the game.
“Of course everyone’s gonna look at the quarterback in this situation. Overall, I haven’t even looked at the box score or whatever, the stats, so I don’t even know what that looks like,” Watson said after the game, according to Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com. “But yeah, we gotta put points on the board. That’s what you gotta do in this league.”
Watson also said that there were “a lot of emotions” going into the game, with “two years off, back against the wall,” he said he didn’t know if his body was capable of playing at a high tempo for an hour or more.
Watson is currently in his final year of the five-year, $230 million fully guaranteed contract. The Browns general manager, Andrew Berry, hinted at a potential contract extension but also made clear that they “are expecting Deshaun to play well,” as the extension will heavily depend on his performances.
Despite Watson trying his best, he had a rough day, and the Browns fans’ lack of support, with their anti-Watson shirts, sparked outrage among NFL fans.
“How embarrassing,” one fan wrote.
“Deshaun Watson walks to the locker room with some fans screaming expletives at him ‘F*** You Deshaun, F*** you.’ Shedeur Sanders walked out of Locker Room and the same fans started cheering ‘it’s time,” another added.
“If the NFL really cared about bringing more women into the fan base, they’d do something about s–t like this,” someone wrote.
Another football fan tried to give a reality check, saying, “The Browns have a fanbase that somehow manages to be easily hatable despite being a historically terrible franchise.”
Besides those comments, some chose to drop one word for those anti-Watson messages, such as “Disgusting” and “Gross.”