Credit: Scott Galvin-Imagn Images
NFLBy Sam Neumann on

It’s not exactly a secret that Deshaun Watson is the most unpopular player in the NFL.

The Cleveland Browns’ starting quarterback was booed during pregame introductions; he was also cheered when he suffered an Achilles injury midway through a 21-14 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals.

Fans certainly can have legitimate gripes with Watson for his many legal bouts with sexual misconduct claims off the field, as well as his poor play on it — but there’s a proverbial line when it comes to cheering for injuries.

And Watson’s teammates felt the fans crossed it.

According to Awful Announcing’s Ben Axelrod, it made for quite the scene at Huntington Bank Field.

That carried over into the postgame press conference(s), as multiple Browns players, including Myles Garrett and Jameis Winston, held court and took aim at how Watson’s injury was received by some — not the majority — of the crowd.

It was hard for those at home to make out the cheers, but they were unmistakable for those there.

Garrett was upset with the fanbase, saying, “No one deserves that. I’ve seen him work his ass off to get back in here and put a smile on his face. And try to put everything that’s outside the facility behind him — death threats, people coming to his house, going after his family. Like I said, no one deserves that. And I hate using the word ‘deserves,’ I’m usually pretty consistent saying, ‘earned.’ He hasn’t earned that. He doesn’t deserve that.

“The man does pretty much everything right. He’s been a model citizen through college and mostly the pros. He plays the game as hard as anyone I’ve seen; puts everything on the line, willing to throw his body out there. He plays the game at 100 miles per hour. And there’s the risk of being injured, and he took that risk. But we have to be there for him as a team, as an organization; we can’t look down on the guy because of any mistakes on the field or anything off the field.

“We don’t have any moral high ground to look down on the guy.”

Regardless of how you feel about fans cheering Watson’s likely season-ending injury — and we know where Garrett stands — the All-Pro pass rusher is burying the lede about Watson’s off-the-field issues. He tried to whitewash Watson’s misdeeds by saying that he’s “mostly” been an outstanding citizen in the pros and that nobody in the locker room (or the fanbase) should have the moral high ground to look down on Watson.

Winston — potentially Watson’s replacement — also had strong words for those who chose to cheer Watson’s Browns career, which is likely coming to an end.

“The way I was raised, I was taught to love no matter the circumstances, especially for people who do right by you,” Winston said. “I’m grateful that I had a chance to serve Deshaun, but I’m very upset with the reaction to a man that has had the world against him for the past four years, and he put his body and life on the line for this city every single day.

“Regardless of your perception, regardless of what you thought should happen with him, he committed every single day that I’ve been here to the best that he can be for this team. And I know, I come from the Deep South, Birmingham, Alabama, Bessemer, Alabama, so I know the standard that hungry fans want, but the way I was raised, I will never, I will never pull on a man when he’s down. But I will be the person to lift him up.

“And that all of us have unique experiences. All of us have circumstances, conditions, and facts that we face every single day. And I pride myself on being a man of increase, and being a man that wants the best out of everybody. I tell myself every morning what I want for myself; I want for everyone. And I do not want the treatment that Deshaun Watson has received from these passionate fans.

“I know you love this game. When I first got here, I knew these were some amazing fans, but Deshaun was treated badly. And now he has to overcome another obstacle. So, I’m going to support him. I’m going to lift him up. I’m going to be there for him. Because I see the way he fights. I see the way that he works. And I know who he is as a person and as an NFL quarterback.”

While Garrett and Winston’s loyalty to Watson is unsurprising, it just shows the divide between the locker room and certain segments of the fanbase. The players see a teammate who has fought to stay on the field and give everything to the team. The fans see a quarterback whose off-field baggage and inconsistent play have left them underwhelmed — and, in some cases, unsympathetic.

But cheering on an injury? That level of detachment raises serious questions from the players about where fandom draws its lines.

Booing a player is par for the course in pro sports. Cheering when they’re injured? Obviously, Garrett and Winston felt it was a bad look for their fanbase and that no amount of frustration justified what transpired Sunday in Cleveland.

About Sam Neumann

Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.

View all posts by Sam Neumann