Todd Monken is entering his first season as the head coach of the Cleveland Browns, and over the offseason he was tasked with the unenviable job of determining whether fan-favorite Shedeur Sanders or much-maligned veteran Deshaun Watson is the best option to start Week 1 and help turn the franchise around.
Ultimately, Monken opted to go with Watson, despite intense booing from the crowd in Watson’s lone preseason appearance in front of Browns fans. The relationship between Watson and Browns fans deteriorated even further following Watson’s post-game comments after being booed.
“I think the whole world knows it has nothing to do about the performance,” a smirking Watson said at the time. “It’s a little bit more personal than that. So, I think it’s a disrespectful thing. So yeah, I mean, 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.”
“Last time I played on this field, I tore my Achilles. And that same fanbase, they cheered when I got hurt,” Watson later said. “So what does that have to do with anything about performance? When a person gets hurt, especially for your own city, and they cheer?”
On Tuesday, Monken addressed the relationship between his starting quarterback and the fanbase in call into 92.3 The Fan.
“The fans just want us to win and play good football,” Monken siad. “I do understand some of the frustration. I do think that, unfortunately, it’s viewed a little bit like hate and hope…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. I get where they’re coming from.”
“The fans just want us to win and play good football. I do understand some of the frustration. I do think that, unfortunately, it’s viewed a little bit like hate and hope…Deshaun, over the years that he’s been here, has frustrated the fans and, certainly, himself in terms of… pic.twitter.com/Hcf34WdFY4
— 92.3 The Fan (@923TheFan) September 8, 2026
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Monken said Watson spoke with him about his infamous comments during the presser.
“I looked at it more along the lines of a speed bump, just a blip on the radar. He came to me right after that. Him 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.’ I asked him ‘do you feel like you’ve gotten rid of it?'”
If Watson can perform consistently for the first time since being traded to Cleveland, things between he and the fans will improve quickly. However, if not, his reception in Week 3, Cleveland’s first home game, is all but guaranteed to be a sour one.
The post ‘Frustrated the fans’: Browns head coach sends brutally honest message to Deshaun Watson appeared first on The Comeback: Today’s Top Sports Stories & Reactions.
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