Deshaun Watson: Cleveland’s Trade for Troubled Passer Looks 'Even Worse' Following Texans’ Stunning Trade for #1 WR

On March 18th, 2022, Houston made the move to ship Deshaun Watson away from Houston and send him to Cleveland. The Browns traded away three first-round selections to the Texans to acquire Watson. The players Houston has since drafted or otherwise acquired as a direct result of the trade are as follows:

• Kenyon Green
• Will Anderson Jr.
• Tank Dell
• Danielle Hunter (for 2024 first-round selection)
• Stefon Diggs (for 2024 2nd-round selection acquired as the direct result of Hunter trade)

2023 proved to be a massive success for the Houston Texans, and while Cleveland returned to the postseason, Houston handily downed the Browns, who had turned to Joe Flacco after Watson found injury troubles. But injury troubles haven’t been the only thing plaguing the beleaguered former Clemson star.

Deshaun Watson Has Otherwise Struggled In Cleveland

Deshaun Watson spent the first eleven games of 2022 suspended as a direct result of his violations of personal conduct. Once he saw the field for the final six contests of that season, Watson threw for seven touchdown passes to accompany five interceptions. He went 3-3 in those six starts, including the return trip to Houston in Week 13, and Cleveland finished 2022 7-10.

2023 saw Watson only compete in six starts once again for the Browns, posting a 5-1 record but ultimately missed the rest of the season with shoulder surgery following Cleveland’s Week 10 victory over the Baltimore Ravens.

Has The Deshaun Watson Trade Truly Been a Failure for Cleveland?

By most counts, the Deshaun Watson trade will go down in NFL history as one of, if not the very worst. The Houston Texans have rebuilt from what seemed to have been a near-hopeless situation following 2022 to potentially being Super Bowl contenders in 2024. The sky remains the limit for a Texans team that, under GM Nick Caserio, has rebuilt in near-record time.

For the Browns and Watson, the $230 million signed in 2022 represents a sizable failure for a team that has started nearly forty different players at the quarterback position since their return to the league in 1999. And in that time, Cleveland has posted all of three postseason appearances: in 2002, 2020, and 2023.

Watson still has time to turn things around and prove his worth in Cleveland, but two years in, it is clear that Houston dominated the trade and Cleveland failed.