ESPN analyst, former NFL QB on how Watson ‘needs to play’ this season
By: Staff Report June 19, 2023

When he was traded to the Cleveland Browns in March 2022, former Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson got a fully guaranteed five-year contract worth $230 million.

Watson was rusty when he made his long-awaited return to the field last season after sitting out the entire 2021 campaign and then serving an 11-game suspension to begin 2022 for violating the league’s personal conduct policy.

But heading into the upcoming season, the Browns are hoping to see their huge investment in Watson start to pay off in 2023, and there are big expectations for the three-time Pro Bowl quarterback entering his first full season with Cleveland.

In six games last season, Watson completed 58.2 percent of his passes for 1,102 yards and seven touchdown passes with five interceptions.

Watson recently said that he must play faster to get back in top form, like he was during his last full season (2020 with the Houston Texans). That year, he had a 70.2 percent completion percentage and 33 touchdown passes with seven interceptions while leading the NFL with 4,823 passing yards.

However, instead of playing faster, former NFL quarterback and current ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky believes Watson needs to do the opposite.

“I actually think he needs to play slower,” Orlovsky said on NFL Live. “Now, the positives I do think are the offseason. He’s been there this whole offseason, he’s been able to focus on football. I do think he did some nice stuff out of throwing the football downfield in empty (formation) last year, and that’s going to matter for Deshaun. Because learning a new offense, being around new people, this is really like the first offseason that he has all of that with a little bit of foundation in Kevin Stefanski’s offense.”

“Look, when I talk about playing a little bit slower, I’m talking about like getting the feel for the game of football back,” Orlovsky added. “He had a long time away from the game.”

You can watch Orlovsky talk about Watson and break down one of his plays from last season below:

We are excited to announce our second annual Dear Old Clemson event for the freshmen football class.  Come out on July 22 at 10 AM at the indoor football facility for a meet and greet autograph session with the scholarship freshmen from the 2023 class.  Clemson coordinators Garrett Riley and Wes Goodwin will be attendance and speak at the event.

Get your tickets today at Dear Old Clemson.