Deshaun Watson is officially back on the Browns’ active roster and he is expected to start against the Texans this week in what will be his first regular season action since the end of the 2020 season.
Watson sat out all of last year while with the Texans and he was suspended for the first 11 games this year under the Personal Conduct Policy after being accused of sexual misconduct by more than 20 women. He has been practicing with the Browns for the last two weeks, but will get his first extended work with the first team since the summer this week and will have to knock off rust quickly as a result.
On Monday, Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski said he didn’t know exactly how the long layoff will impact Watson in his return to action but said he feels confident that Watson is prepared for the task at hand.
“I have confidence in Deshaun based on his preparation and, really, the focus is on just him doing his job,” Stefanski said, via Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com. “I mean, we’re still gonna be all about the team effort, still offense, defense and special teams. So this is never, ever gonna be about one person. But as it relates to Deshaun, I believe in his preparation, I believe that he worked really hard on a bunch of things to be ready to go.”
Watson’s reinstatement would draw a lot of attention against any opponent, but it’s an even bigger deal with the Texans as the opposition this week. Stefanski said that the Browns will have to “put the blinders on” to anything other than preparing to play and we’ll see how well that goes come Sunday.