The animosity between Cleveland Browns fans and star quarterback Deshaun Watson reached a boiling point when Watson suffered a season-ending Achilles injury in their Week 7 game. That promptly resulted in Browns’ fans cheering as he was carted off the field.
In the days following, sports media personalities have voiced their opinions on the behavior of Browns’ fans.
Some, including Michelle Beadle, believe that Watson should have been booed by Browns’ fans since his very first game in Cleveland due to his ongoing off-field issues, which include accusations of sexual misconduct from 24 different women.
Others, like many of his teammates, believe that Browns’ fans were completely out of line cheering for Watson, or any other player, leaving due to a serious injury.
Ryan Clark largely agrees with Browns’ players openly ripping the fanbase for cheering. But Clark does also realize that Watson’s off-field issues do complicate his stance.
“When I look at Deshaun’s situation, it was disheartening to see him in tears and have the crowd cheering his injury,” said Clark on The Pivot Podcast. “But you also have to peel the layers back and understand that when Myles Garrett or Jameis Winston defend him. Or almost make him a victim in what’s gone on in his off-the-field life.
“We also can’t do that. We were not behind those closed doors. We don’t know which of those allegations are fact.”
“I know Myles and Jameis are probably a part of his circle. And I have been around people in his circle who believe that Deshaun Watson is innocent. And then obviously there are people outside of that circle who believe the things that they have read in the court documents.
“Obviously, those things play a part in how you perceive him as a human. We can’t make a victim out of someone who is involved in a number of cases where there could be actual victims of his actions.
“To also pretend that in some way Deshaun Watson doesn’t have to be accountable or responsible for what he’s been through in some way, even if the allegations aren’t true to the tee, is irresponsible on us. It doesn’t that it’s okay to boo his injury. It doesn’t mean that it’s okay to be happy that the stress, that the injuries, that the life, is what we saw in the outpouring of tears on that cart.
“I’ve seen people injure their Achilles. Kobe Bryant tore his Achilles and shot two free throws and walked to the locker room. KD sat down shaking his head. Aaron Rodgers walked into the tent, got on the cart, and walked into the locker room. We’ve never seen that kind of emotional reaction to it.”
I don’t know if I’ve seen an athlete’s life make a complete 180 the way I’ve seen Deshaun Watson’s. @clevelandbrowns’ fans cheered as he was driven into the locker room on a cart with a season ending Achilles injury. It’s a far cry from the applause he received as a player and… pic.twitter.com/7EwWnsU76i
— Ryan Clark (@Realrclark25) October 23, 2024
It ultimately is an incredibly complex situation. Watson’s poor play on the field certainly isn’t enough of a reason morally for most fans to cheer after a career-altering injury like they did on Sunday with Watson.
However, when you include Watson’s reputation around the NFL regarding his off-field issues, it does perhaps change the narrative around the situation.
Regardless, Clark went on to definitively say that he believes that the Browns fans were still “100-percent wrong” for cheering about Watson’s injury in his eyes.
“To the Cleveland fans, I 100 percent believe they are wrong. I think it’s sad. In a situation where I know it’s probably wrong to feel for Deshaun Watson, I do. Because like I said from the beginning, I don’t know what happened in those situations. And I can look at this in a vacuum and know all that we put into playing this game and how much it matters to do that for people who wear the colors of those teams. To know a stadium full of your people is happy you can’t take the field anymore. I think those two things can be separate and true. But I also know that there could really be true victims of what happened. In this case, we can’t make Deshaun the victim off the field. But on (the field), I do feel for what he had to endure.”
As a former player himself, it’s perhaps not all that surprising to see Clark share this opinion on the matter. But clearly, Clark also isn’t absolving Watson of any of his off-field issues as well unlike his Browns teammates who called him a “model citizen”.
