Deshaun Watson calls boos from Browns fans ‘a disrespectful thing’ after preseason loss

Deshaun Watson heard Cleveland Browns fans’ cheers when he was carted off Huntington Bank Field with a torn Achilles in October 2024.

That memory returned Saturday afternoon after the Browns quarterback’s first appearance in front of the home fans since that injury — one that elicited multiple rounds of boos that Watson called both “disrespectful” and “personal” after a 31-7 preseason loss to the Buffalo Bills.

“It has nothing to do about the performance. It’s a little bit more personal than that. So I think that’s a disrespectful thing,” said Watson, who also referenced cheers from Browns fans when he suffered his 2024 Achilles injury. “I’m going to keep whatever I feel with me and my family internally on how I feel about that. And yeah, just move on.”

Watson is competing with Shedeur Sanders for the Browns’ starting job. The two have alternated days operating the No. 1 offense since the spring, and Sanders started Saturday’s game after Watson started last weekend’s preseason opener in Chicago.

While Sanders was solid in his start, completing 9 of 11 passes for 74 yards with one touchdown and an interception, Watson struggled in his first action in Cleveland in 22 months. And the sparse home crowd let him know about it, booing him four times during the third quarter alone.

“Only time I feel that energy is when I’m in the stadium, or it’s on social media. When I’m in public, nobody says anything,” Watson said. “I feel like I get more love on road games than I do in home games.”

A smattering of boos greeted Watson ahead of the first snap of the third quarter after the public address announcer said he was entering the game. There was another round of boos after his first pass into traffic fell incomplete.

He was booed again after the Browns went three-and-out on his second series, and then after he threw a high pass intended for Gage Larvadain, which Buffalo safety Te’Cory Couch intercepted.

“I had different thoughts on how it was going to be, but it is what it is,” Watson said. “Sometimes the tables turn, and I’m patient enough because I’m a child of God to wait for that time to change. So I’m not tripping on it.”

Asked earlier this week if he thought he might hear some boos, Watson said, “I don’t care.”

After a lightning delay two minutes into the game postponed play more than an hour, another wave of rain hit the stadium at halftime. There probably weren’t more than a few thousand fans seated when Watson entered the huddle for the first time.

The boos were louder early in the fourth quarter after Watson had a fourth-down pass deflected as he released the ball, and the pass fell well short of intended receiver Luke Floriea. Watson completed just 5 of 12 passes for 35 yards with an interception in four series. His quarterback rating was 14.6.

“I don’t regret anything in my life,” Watson said Saturday. “I think the Lord put me through situations for a reason. I don’t regret anything at all.”

Watson arrived in Cleveland in March 2022 under the cloud of sexual misconduct allegations from his time with the Houston Texans. The Browns acquired him in a trade and gave him a fully guaranteed $230 million contract that he has since failed to live up to on the field due to multiple injuries and poor performances.

Now in the final year of that contract, he and Sanders are locked in a battle to start Week 1.

Last week, the Browns scored on two of Watson’s six series in the first half, then did not score in the second half. On Saturday, Sanders capped a touchdown drive with an 8-yard pass to Floriea on the Browns’ first series, but later threw behind tight end Jermaine Terry in Buffalo territory, where the pass was intercepted.

Sanders was 8-for-8 before the interception, including a fourth-down conversion and two third-down conversions.

On the team’s official radio pregame show that aired Saturday morning, Browns coach Todd Monken said he does not “anticipate the quarterback decision going past early next week.”

Most of Cleveland’s starters — including the entire offensive line — did not suit up for Saturday’s game.