Deshaun Watson’s relationship with Browns fans has been toxic, to say the least, and new head coach Todd Monken was unsure whether he could function properly as the team’s starter.
In a brutally honest interview on 92.3 The Fan, Monken revealed that he had second thoughts about Watson after the second preseason game, in which he got booed off the field and made it personal with fans afterward.
“I mean, after that game — I’ll just say during the game and then after the game, certainly Deshaun was not in a great headspace. Let’s be real honest about it,” Monken told hosts Ken Carman and Anthony Lima. “He said it after the game; he was frustrated and didn’t particularly play well. And we didn’t coach well and call it well around him. So, we certainly all have to own that.”
This comes after Watson called Browns fans disrespectful in a rant to reporters following the second preseason game.
“Last time I played on this field, I tore my Achilles. And that same fan base, they cheered when I got hurt,” Watson said on Aug 21.
That same week, Watson was named the winner of the quarterback battle with Shedeur Sanders.
Monken’s revelation about Watson’s poor headspace is notable, though not hard to tell given his last few years in the NFL.
“I looked at it more along the lines of a speed bump and just a blip on the radar more than the norm of what I had seen over the course of the five months being here, in terms of his confidence, how hard he’s worked to get back to where he’s at today,” Monken added.
“And he did; he came to me right after that; he and I had a good conversation, and he said, ‘I’m not sure I handled that the right way. But I did have things that were on my heart.’ And I asked him, I said, ‘Do you feel like you’ve gotten rid of it?’ Because it’s one thing to say it. It’s another thing to really believe it, that OK, I needed to get this off my chest; it’s over; I just want to go out there and play great football. I’ve worked awfully hard to get back.”
Watson is entering the final season of a fully guaranteed five-year deal worth $230 million.
Over the first four seasons of the contract — the highest fully-guaranteed deal in NFL history at the time of signing — he’s played just 19 games, throwing for 19 touchdowns and 12 interceptions, battling multiple injuries, including an Achilles tendon re-rupture that caused him to miss the entire 2025 season.
His Browns tenure has also overlapped with the numerous civil sexual assault lawsuits he’s faced in his career.
“[T]he fans just want us to win and play good football. So, I do understand some of the frustration,” Monken said. “I do think that, unfortunately, it’s viewed a little bit like hate and hope — is really the way I put it. The fans really just want hope. And Deshaun, over the years that he’s been here, has frustrated the fans and, certainly, himself in terms of wanting to play better for the Cleveland fans and the organization.”
The Browns will head to Jacksonville in Week 1, where they are more than a touchdown underdogs to start the season.
