Coach Kevin Stefanski says Browns ‘don’t know’ about QB situation as Deshaun Watson suspension looms
The Browns are in a precarious spot with the NFL Draft over.
They landed their white whale in Deshaun Watson this offseason, but the NFL has been suspiciously mum on Watson’s availability next season after he sat out all of 2021 amid sexual misconduct allegations. A suspension is considered inevitable, but the length remains unknown.
While the Watson situation does — or doesn’t — unfold, Baker Mayfield remains on Cleveland’s roster after requesting a trade shortly after the Browns got Watson. If Mayfield moves on or doesn’t play for whatever reason, offseason acquisition Jacoby Brissett is next in line.
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Browns coach Kevin Stefanski spoke on the possibility of a suspension for Watson, who still has 22 civil lawsuits pending against him.
“I just think it’s kind of the nature of it. We don’t know and that’s OK,” Stefanski said Tuesday on 92.3 The Fan. “So we’re going to work through that as more information becomes available. But ultimately, we’re getting three new quarterbacks ready with Deshaun in there, Jacoby in there, and Josh Dobbs.”
Dobbs signed with the Browns last month after spending time with the Steelers and Jaguars since being drafted in 2017.
“We’ve got three new guys calling plays in the huddle. They’re different cadences, so we’ve got guys hearing those voices. So that room, there’s a lot of learning going on, there’s a ton of teaching going on. And then as more information becomes available, we can determine how we rotate guys in training camp and those types of things. But until we have that information, we’re really just in a holding pattern.”
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There hasn’t been much talk around Watson since his intensely uncomfortable introductory press conference toward the end of March. A grand jury determined he should not face criminal charges a week before the Browns traded three first-round picks, a third-round pick, and fourth-round pick for him. They also gave him a five-year, $230 million contract fully guaranteed, the biggest guaranteed sum in NFL history.