Through the first three weeks of the 2024 season, Deshaun Watson’s continued shortcomings as the Cleveland Browns’ quarterback has been one of the NFL’s biggest storylines.
And not only that, but Watson now finds himself the subject of a new lawsuit accusing him of sexual assault and battery, two years after he settled more than 20 lawsuits accusing him of sexual misconduct.
Between his lackluster play and (especially) the new allegations against him, you won’t find many fans of Watson’s these days, even in Cleveland. So it was curious to here Stephen A. Smith admit on Friday’s episode of First Take that he’s one of them.
“I’m very disgusted with Deshaun Watson. Here’s why: Because I root for the brother. I want the man to succeed. I remember what I saw in Houston with the Texans. And before all of the salacious nonsense came out into the public eye, we looked at that brother in Houston and even though they got romped in a playoff game against Kansas City when [Patrick] Mahomes and them scored like 41, 42 straight points on them or whatever, we saw a dude in Deshaun Watson that we said, ‘Other than Patrick Mahomes, who would you rather have?’
“I don’t know what the hell happened to him since that period of time. But the only thing we do know about him is that the cases against him went away, but so did his game. Because we ain’t seen that quarterback since he departed from Houston.”
Stephen A. Smith on Deshaun Watson: “I’m very disgusted with Deshaun Watson. Here’s why: Because I root for the brother. I want the man to succeed. I remember what I saw in Houston with the Texans… I don’t know what the hell happened to him since that period of time. But the… pic.twitter.com/VTX8wBVfcO
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 27, 2024
To be clear, while the bulk of the original cases against Watson have since disappeared via settlement, the most recent one remains ongoing. And Elle Duncan seemed to allude to that when she referenced the three-time Pro Bowl quarterback’s likability, or lack thereof.
“The unmitigated gall for him to sit up there as incredulous as he was — ‘I’m a throwing quarterback’ — when you’re not doing that particularly well,” Duncan said in reference to comments Watson made to reporters about his rushing ability earlier this week. “Based on how bad you are playing. Based on how unlikable you are right now with everything surrounding you, to sit there with that sort of arrogant ‘how dare you to expect me to be a different quarterback than what I am,’ you could have just not said the quiet part out loud.”
Smith visibly winced as Duncan brought up Watson being “unlikable.” And he proceeded to suggest that the only factor in his lackluster approval rating has been his on-field play.
“Obviously we all know what he was in the news for when he departed from Houston. We all understand that. Here’s the crime: no one’s been talking about that. They’ve been talking about his game,” Smith said. “Usually everybody would bring that up all day every day. When you bring up the unlikability portion of him, Elle, it’s been because of his lack of performance. In other words, considering all that you’ve been through, you should at least have the decency to be ready to ball.”
Stephen A. Smith: “Obviously we all know what he was in the news for when he departed from Houston… no one’s been talking about that. They’ve been talking about his game. Usually everybody would bring that up all day every day. When you bring up the unlikability portion of him,… pic.twitter.com/kJFuU6SPUl
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 27, 2024
While there’s something to the idea that Watson’s on-field struggles has given the media an excuse to avoid discussing his off-field issues — as Mina Kimes suggested a year ago — that’s not necessarily what’s happening here. Based on his comments in this segment, Smith either seems unaware of the most recent lawsuit against the former Clemson star or is under the impression that it hasn’t further damaged his reputation.
As somebody who lives in Cleveland, I can tell you that’s certainly not the case, as the latest allegations against Watson have hung over this Browns season as much as the quarterback’s poor play has. And while he may still have a fan in Smith, the reality of rooting for Watson has been something many Browns fans still find themselves trying to reconcile, in large part due to the accusations against him.
[First Take]
