‘I thought I was going to get a little different response’: Deshaun Watson breaks his silence

The Cleveland Browns named Deshaun Watson their starting quarterback on Monday, less than 48 hours after Watson was booed by the home fans during a preseason game, leading him to call them out for being “disrespectful” in his postgame press conference.

After being named the starter, Watson broke his silence on his previous comments as he tried to make amends with Browns fans.

Watson Booed in Cleveland

Watson was met with boos from the home crowd during the preseason defeat to the Bills, completing only 5 of 12 passes for 35 yards and an interception across four second-half drives.

Following the game, Watson was asked about the reaction from the fans, and he didn’t hold back, describing the reception as “disrespectful” while insisting that the criticism had nothing to do with how he played.

“The whole world knows it has nothing to do about the performance,” Watson said after the game via ESPN. “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?”

The apparent tension between Watson and the city became so pronounced that some people argued the team should move on from him right away. Rather than doing that, however, the Browns ultimately named Watson their starting quarterback.

Watson Breaks His Silence

On Monday, after being named the starting quarterback of the Browns, Watson broke his silence on all the criticism he has been receiving from the fans as he apologized for the blunt comments he made on Saturday.

“I thought I was going to get a little different response,” Watson said, “but I think my emotions got the best of me. My comments wasn’t intending to go at any of the fans around in the city, because there’s been a lot of great fans that have been supporting me. And I know the frustration. This organization has put a lot of investment in coming to get me back in ’22, and things haven’t been going the right direction that we thought it was. A lot of injuries, a lot of time off, and not putting the best football and my foot forward.

“I understand the frustration. I understand everything that kind of goes into that. And moving forward, I just want to focus on football, making sure that I’m putting the best product out there, having the best ability, because I thrive off the energy. I thrive off the energy of the fans. I thrive off the energy of the community. I thrive off all that stuff.”

We’ll have to see how Watson is received by fans when he takes the field in Cleveland in a few weeks.

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