The Cleveland Browns Belong to the People
Don't let anything stop you from being a Browns fan the way you feel is right.
Deshaun Watson is not a victim.
If there’s a piece of the recent expose in The Athletic that ran Monday morning I can align with, it’s that.
For three years now, we’ve had to navigate being a Browns fan while at the same time accepting and acknowledging the person representing them under center. In some ways, Watson has made it easy.
In his first two seasons as a Brown, he’s appeared in a combined 12 games, less than the entirety of his 2020 season with the Texans. We simply haven’t had to engage with him on the field all that much, getting introduced to guys like Jacoby Brissett, Dorian Thompson-Robinson, PJ Walker and Joe Flacco instead, learning their stories and forming relationships with them.
When Watson has been on the field, in his brown, white and orange No. 4 jersey, he’s played relatively uneven football. That’s provided cover for us as fans to continue to bemoan the signing, to confirm our prior distaste, to imagine this whole saga never really happened.
But the reality of Watson as a full-season starter is coming. Looking to be nearly fully recovered from offseason shoulder surgery, Watson has been at the helm as the Browns kicked off training camp last week in the lush hills of West Virginia, his tinted visor and white headband omnipresent across the Browns social media platforms. And if Watson stays healthy, the Browns have the type of roster and coaching staff that could propel Watson to lead them to the playoffs, perhaps even be the main catalyst for it.
There’s a potential reckoning there for fans, to enjoy consistent, unprecedented success in Cleveland with Watson as the face of it. So when the former Clemson quarterback plays the victim card, unearthing the “everyone is against me so I just have to shut out the noise” cliche in an interview on Monday as a person accused of sexually assaulting over 20 women, you share in some of The Athletic’s inky vitriol.
But we as Browns fans didn’t choose Watson. Watson really didn’t even choose the Browns. He chose the (at the time) unprecedented guaranteed money built into his contract. We had no say in the matter, no ability to veto the trade with the Houston Texans or the shiny new contract. We were bystanders as the Haslams and the front office did what they wanted.
Feelings about Watson remain complicated and uncomfortable, and that will only increase with every potential touchdown pass he throws in 2024. But the reailty is that the Browns are an entity, one with roots stretching deep into the soil of Cleveland. In a very real sense, the team belongs to the people. Its success belongs to the people. Jerseys get retired, names become lore, but the Browns are a collective.
The enjoyment you feel on Sundays, whether you’re inside Cleveland Browns Stadium or on the couch with friends and family, belongs to you. That joy should not be sacrificed, certainly not in the name of a player who has done little to show even an ounce of attrition for his past actions.
So, fan how you want to fan and don’t feel guilty for that. Don’t let public perception of a few individuals stop you from enjoying a special season ahead. The Browns do not belong to Jimmy and Dee Haslam. The Browns do not belong to Deshaun Watson. The Cleveland Football Browns belong to us.
