The Browns’ Deshaun Watson era is over. Why Dorian Thompson-Robinson should be QB for now

CLEVELAND — We know the final chapter now of the Deshaun Watson saga in Cleveland. It officially ended at 2:18 p.m. Sunday on the 23-yard line when Watson crumpled to the ground clutching his right heel in agony. 

The ruptured Achilles will likely be confirmed Monday and the Browns will begin their disaster relief program of figuring out how to move forward from here. 

Deshaun Watson has played his last snap as a member of the Cleveland Browns. 

Browns HC Kevin Stefanski told reporters that the team believes Deshaun Watson suffered a season-ending Achilles injury, with more tests ahead to confirm.

Here is the play on which Watson was injured: pic.twitter.com/zt4GfnRxi3

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 20, 2024

Now, we can declare what has been suspected for months: This is officially the worst trade in the history of professional sports. Assuming he doesn’t take another snap, Watson’s time here ends with more sexual assault allegations (27) than games played (19). He won nine games as the Browns’ quarterback. The team paid him $25.56 million per victory, with two more years still to go on this interminable contract.

There will be plenty of time in the days, weeks and months ahead to sift through the carnage of how they got here. For now, the Browns have another game next weekend against the Baltimore Ravens and somebody has to take the snaps. They’re 1-6 and the season is sabotaged, but there are still 10 games to go and they absolutely matter. The next 2 1/2 months will determine who gets fired and how many players must be replaced because it can’t come back like this again next year. 

The Browns were already trending toward Dorian Thompson-Robinson at quarterback, the injury to Watson just expedited that process. Offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey told Thompson-Robinson multiple times last week to “be ready.” Only nobody bothered to tell him what exactly to be ready to see.

The decision had been made to promote DTR to be the backup quarterback, but they didn’t bother telling him that until over the weekend, just hours before the game. He spent the week running the scout team, as usual. 

“Our backups really don’t get reps with the ones,” Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said. 

When the Browns ran through their short-yardage packages during Saturday’s walk-through, it was Watson — not Jameis Winston — who took the snaps from center. Some of the players were puzzled. Watson has never been the short-yardage quarterback here. Previously, the Browns went so far as to use a backup tight end as the short-yardage quarterback to keep Watson from doing it because he’s never been very good at it and it exposed him to unnecessary hits. But this kind of start to a season forces teams to get out of their comfort zone. 

The plan was finally revealed when Winston was inactive Sunday and Thompson-Robinson was elevated to the backup role. I believe Stefanski was ultimately preparing to bench Watson sooner than later and turn to Thompson-Robinson as his starter, but there’s no need for anyone to admit that now.

Thompson-Robinson was thrust into the starting role Sunday when Watson went down and he looked as unprepared as he did last year when he was unexpectedly dumped into a start at home against the Ravens just hours before kickoff. 

Watson insisted throughout that week he was going to play against Baltimore despite a right shoulder injury, so the coaches and players took him at his word. Then he said the morning of the game he couldn’t go, leaving Thompson-Robinson to make his first career start as a rookie fifth-round pick with no notice and little preparation. He was a mess in that game, just as he was a mess on Sunday. 

“Kind of gave me flashbacks of being back at the Ravens game last year and that feeling I don’t want, feeling that has a bad taste in my mouth,” Thompson-Robinson said Sunday. “I need to look myself in the mirror and make sure I’m coming out prepared next week.”

Thompson-Robinson was 11 of 24 for 82 yards and two interceptions against the Bengals. Nevertheless, the Browns can’t turn back now. He should start next week against those same Ravens with a full week of preparation and every week thereafter as long as he can remain healthy. He was forced out of Sunday’s game in the fourth quarter with an injury to his right middle finger, which was heavily wrapped after the game. He fell on it when he was sacked, which made gripping a football difficult. He had X-rays taken after the game, but the results won’t be announced until Monday. 

DTR shows off the wheels

📺: #CINvsCLE on CBS/Paramount+
📱: pic.twitter.com/t44VXz4vJJ

— NFL (@NFL) October 20, 2024

Provided there’s nothing broken and he can grip a ball by Wednesday’s practice, he should be the quarterback for the rest of the season. There is no benefit to playing Winston at this point. The Browns know who he is. 

Thompson-Robinson remains a 24-year-old unknown. The odds are he’s probably a career backup, but the Browns need a definitive answer to that by the end of the season. Now they have the time to get it. He made three starts last year as a rookie and seemed to be figuring things out in a loss at Denver before he was knocked out of the game with a concussion.

Once the Browns signed Joe Flacco, he returned to a backup role and briefly played in garbage time at Houston on Christmas Eve. He managed to dislocate his hip after five plays, ending his season. If he can’t stay healthy, then the Browns will quickly get their answer. 

By January, this franchise needs to know if Thompson-Robinson is an option for them at quarterback in 2025 and beyond. If he’s not, they should be bad enough to be in position to draft yet another franchise quarterback in next year’s draft. 

It’s an unfathomable position to be in considering how much cash and trade capital they surrendered to get Watson, but it’s the reality of their position. How they sell this to veterans like Myles Garrett and Joel Bitonio is another battle. Can any veteran here be convinced to stay through another rebuild? It certainly feels like that’s what is coming.

There’s no easy way out of this. Whatever the Browns do with Watson’s contract after the season is bound to be painful and include extraordinary, historical dead cap hits for the next couple of years. But Watson has rarely shown the capability of being a franchise quarterback since he arrived here and the Achilles injury all but seals the ending. 

The most polarizing, divisive era in the history of the Cleveland Browns has mercifully ended. 

The damage is only beginning.

(Photo: Jason Miller / Getty Images)