NFL Network Host Believes Deshaun Watson Can Return To Top 10 Status

The Browns are still waiting to see the return on their investment in regards to quarterback Deshaun Watson.

Through his first two seasons with the franchise since coming over via a blockbuster trade in 2022, Watson has played in just 12 games, posting an 8-4 record, but with mixed results as far as performances go. After leading the league in passing during the last season he played for the Texans in 2020, Watson has a completion percentage of 59-percent, while throwing for just 2,217 yards, 14 touchdowns and nine interceptions.

Now. Watson enters the third year of his five-year deal with Cleveland looking to overcome a fracture in his throwing shoulder that required surgery. It sets the stage for what is a massively important season for the 28-year-old QB.

Watson used to be considered one of the top quarterbacks in football, but he hasn't played at that level going on four years now, leaving plenty of doubts over his ability to get back to that status. While the debate over Watson rages on, one NFL pundit believes he'll round back into form in 2024.

NFL Network host Rhett Lewis explained via The Dog Check podcast this week why he has faith in Watson's ability to bounce back, even after shoulder surgery.

"I do think Deshaun Watson can once again become one of the the elite quarterbacks in this league," Lewis said. "There's too much talent there, and I think there's too much internal motivation to put all that has troubled him over the course of the last three years behind him in a big way. Going back to the suspension year when you only get him for a couple of games, and then he's injured for the majority of the season. Just has not had a full season, a full offseason to put this whole thing together and see it unfold."

At the center of everything for Watson will be his recovery from a fractured glenoid. As the saying goes, the best ability is availability. As Lewis noted if the Clemson product has any hope of returning to the player he once was it starts with that.

"Fingers crossed on the health perspective, as long as all that comes through with the shoulder and everything that ailed him over the last couple of years," said Lewis. "If you can have a full 17-game season with a player like that, that's where you start to see the rhythm come into play. That's where you start to see the comfortability with Kevin Stefanski comes into play ... It's a matter of continuity and then with that continuity, of availability you get the consistency. And then with the consistency I think what you start to see is that elite level play."

Time will tell if the Browns finally start to realize the return on their investment next season. In the meantime, Watson is ramping up his rehab throughout the team's spring workouts.

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