Browns owner Jimmy Haslam: Deshaun Watson trade was ‘big swing and a miss’
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Just more than three years since the Cleveland Browns traded three first-round picks to the Houston Texans for quarterback Deshaun Watson, team owner Jimmy Haslam has officially called the move a loss.Haslam spoke candidly about the trade alongside his wife and co-owner, Dee Haslam, during league meetings here at The Breakers resort. It was the first time Haslam has spoken at length about the struggles the team has gone through as a specific result of the Watson trade. Since signing a five-year, $230 million fully guaranteed contract with Cleveland, Watson has made just 17 starts in three years, going 9-10 over that span while throwing for 3,365 yards, 19 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. He finished the 2024 season with a 1-6 record over seven games, the most he has played in a single season since joining the Browns.AdvertisementThough Watson missed 11 games in his inaugural season in Cleveland while serving a suspension for accusations of sexual assault and sexual misconduct by more than 20 massage therapists, he missed major stretches of the last two seasons with season-ending injuries. His status for the 2025 season is up in the air as well. The 29-year-old quarterback is recovering from an Achilles injury and suffered a setback during his rehab process in January.“Let’s address the elephant in the room,” Haslam said when asked about the team’s 3-14 finish and lack of a quarterback. “We took a big swing and miss with Deshaun. We thought we had the quarterback, we didn’t, and we gave up a lot of draft picks to get him. So we’ve got to dig ourselves out of that hole.”Browns owner Jimmy Haslam acknowledges Cleveland's mistake acquiring and paying up for Deshaun Watson. pic.twitter.com/G8IXAYh4co — The Athletic NFL (@TheAthleticNFL) March 31, 2025Haslam even made a point to say that Browns fans should hold the team to a higher standard.“It ends with Dee and I, so hold us accountable,” he said.Cleveland has already taken steps to add additional quarterback talent this offseason. The Browns traded for 2022 first-round pick Kenny Pickett in a move that sent quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson and a fifth-rounder to the Philadelphia Eagles. The Browns are also in possession of the No. 2 overall pick.Haslam’s honest assessmentUnless there are major organizational changes, the Haslams usually only speak to the media at the start of training camp in July and in late March at the NFL’s annual meeting. So, while it’s been obvious that the Watson experiment was a disaster, this was the first time hearing the team owner provide this kind of honest assessment about it. Jimmy Haslam saying he and Dee Haslam take accountability doesn’t necessarily answer lingering questions about why the Browns gave Watson a fully guaranteed contract, but it fits with the rest of what Haslam said here Monday. The Browns know their overall roster and salary-cap situations have suffered from the Watson miss, and this is not a team that’s one piece or one year away. — Zac Jackson, Browns beat writerAdvertisementCould Cleveland draft a quarterback?The most telling quote from Haslam, at least at this point, came when he insisted that the Browns won’t “force” a quarterback at No. 2 in this year’s NFL Draft. The Browns just visited with Abdul Carter and will meet Travis Hunter at the end of this week, and it’s been fairly obvious since the NFL Scouting Combine that Cam Ward was probably going to Tennessee at No. 1. Haslam said it “would be great if we could get the quarterback” but that the Browns will be patient “and try to accumulate as many good football players as we can.”“I think the message is if the right person’s there, we’re going to take him,” Haslam said. “If not, we’ll figure it out for a year or two until we get the right person. And I just keep (saying) we need good football players. There are good football players in this draft, and we got to make sure we get the right ones for us.” — Jackson(Photo: Nick Cammett / Getty Images)
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