Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski has opened up on how he thinks Deshaun Watson will fare in his second season with the team in the NFL.
The Browns agreed to a trade with the Houston Texans in March last year that saw Watson become their new quarterback. As part of the trade, the Browns gave up first round picks in 2022, 2023 and 2024, as well as a 2023 third round pick and 2024 fourth round pick.
Last season was Watson’s first season with the Browns, but he did not meet the same standards that he set while in Houston. After averaging a 66.9 percent passing success rate in his four seasons with the Texans, that number dropped to just 57.1 in his first year in Cleveland.
He also managed to complete just seven touchdown passes in his six games in 2022, after serving an 11-game suspension at the start of the season. To put that in perspective, his lowest number of TD passes was 19 in his first year with the Texans, while he completed 33 in the 2020 season.
Stefanski has been asked about comparing Watson’s first season in Cleveland to his second, which begins this September. The Browns head coach emphasised the importance of working with players new and existing during the off-season, and says Watson is doing well in the early organised team activities (OTA) so far.
“I would just tell you he’s done a really nice job throughout this entire offseason of being diligent about understanding [the] playbook, understanding his teammates every single day,” Stefanski told the Akron Beacon Journal.
“There are always going to be things that you want to get back and do a little bit differently. That’s no different than every player at every position, but he’s right where he needs to be.”
The Browns recently signed wide receiver Elijah Moore from the New York Jets, who will be part of Watson’s offence for the new season. Stefanski went on to say that the more practice sessions his quarterback has with the full roster, the better it will be for the Browns.
“As you add new players, and adding Elijah to the mix, you want as a quarterback, all these reps — you take mental notes and you’re thinking about how a player came out of this route, how he came out of that route,” Stefanski said.
“Every single rep, whether it’s individual period or it’s in a team period or it’s in a 7-on-7, you’re constantly adding that to the checklist, if you will, so that you get to understand your players, because that’s important. We may run a six-step route, and the six steps that Player A takes are a little bit longer than the six steps that Player B takes.”
