Pat McAfee raises doubts at Deshaun Watson's $230,000,000 value as GM Andrew Berry and HC get extensions
Browns general manager Andrew Berry and coach Kevin Stefanski have had their contracts extended. But Pat McAfee thinks Deshaun Watson's valuation might yet become a millstone around Cleveland's neck.
The Browns famously gave the former Texans quarterback a fully guaranteed contract worth $230 million after choosing to move on from Baker Mayfield. It came at a time when Deshaun Watson was under investigation for sexual misconduct by the league.
He was eventually suspended, and coupled with his injury last year, it means that Cleveland's designated franchise quarterback hasn't completed a full season with the team since signing the deal.
Pat McAfee raised similar doubts about Deshaun Watson's current abilities. He acknowledged that Andrew Berry is a smart football guy and also added that Kevin Stefanski is a fantastic coach, having led them to the playoffs after bringing in Joe Flacco off the couch.
However, Pat McAfee said that it's Deshaun Watson whose capabilities are under scrutiny, not the general manager or the coach's. He commented:
"Andrew Berry played at Harvard. He's a football guy. He knows the locker room and he's a genius.
"Now, he did have to pay $230 million guaranteed to a quarterback, and we don't know if he's (Watson) ever gonna get back to the form of being a $230 million quarterback, but he (Berry) and Stefanski's big brain seemingly having Cleveland rowing in the right direction."
Pat McAfee not wrong to doubt Deshaun Watson even as Andrew Berry and Kevin Stefanski get extensions
Pat McAfee made a fair point in doubting Deshaun Watson's current capabilities. Andrew Berry and Kevin Stefanski's contract extensions might be well-deserved, given they have rescued the Cleveland Browns from being the laughing stock of the NFL, but the same cannot be said about their quarterback.
Last season was the second-consecutive season that the quarterback could not play the full slate of matches for the franchise. He was on the bench as his former team knocked out his current club in the Wild Card round. The Texans have gotten an upgrade on him in C.J. Stroud at a much cheaper price than Andrew Berry agreed to.
To rub it in even further, Baker Mayfield, whom Watson replaced, made it further in the playoffs by going all the way to the Divisional Round in the NFC. The current Browns quarterback might yet prove his worth, but he's running out of time and opportunities to prove skeptics like Pat McAfee wrong.