For the first time since November 12th, Deshaun Watson will be throwing in front of the Cleveland media and his performance will be available to the entire Cleveland fanbase.
What should we expect as clips begin to circulate from Thursday's practice? Will the 2024 version of "Zip Gate" be born? Will we see a quarterback that looks game-ready? Will we see a quarterback struggling to spin it? Should any of it matter?
The answer is no. Nothing that we see Thursday will matter and the guy that Watson will be in August is more indicative of who he will be in the 2024 season. But, as we always do, this fanbase is going to overreact to what is shown on Thursday.
While we do that, it is important to remember a couple of key factors. Watson is coming off of a very major surgery, one that has a rehab timeline of six months. May marks the six month since Watson's operation, so things should be starting to heat up in his rehab process.
Of the clips that we have seen arise from camp through the Browns' social media team, it is clear and obvious that when Watson throws, he isn't just going through the motions. He is throwing it at game-like tempo and speed. This is something that we all like to see.
It is also just as important to remember that Thursday is day six in a brand new offense with an entirely new coaching staff. Not every play is going to look clean and that is okay, especially for the timeline the offense is on and where they are in the offseason process.
Thursday will be fun to see the form that Watson is in heading into the 2024 season. The last we saw him, he led the Browns with a perfect and clutch fourth quarter to beat the eventual AFC runner-up Ravens. With a competent Watson, the Browns can go as far as they want. 2024 is all on the performance of the quarterback, let's just not overreact to a May OTA practice.
