Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson has gotten off to a rather unenviable start in the 2024 NFL season, and while he is largely at fault, there is plenty of blame to go around.
Bleacher Report's Brad Gagnon has offered a slight defense of Watson, noting that he is the most pressured quarterback in the NFL over the Browns' first two games of the year.
Given that Cleveland has been missing its two starting tackles in Jack Conklin and Jedrick Wills, this isn't entirely shocking, but it does provide some context to Watson's early struggles.
Gagnon also notes that the Browns' receivers lead the NFL in dropped passes, which has also been a contributing factor.
But the pressure is the bigger issue.
Perhaps that will all get rectified once Conklin and Wills get healthy, but as of right now, it's certainly something to monitor when evaluating Watson.
Watson has thrown for 355 yards, one touchdown and a couple of interceptions while completing just 58.2 percent of his passes and posting a passer rating of 63 thus far.
He showed some improvement last weekend, going 22-for-34 with 186 yards while punching in a rushing score in Cleveland's win over the Jacksonville Jaguars, but those still are obviously not great numbers.
It doesn't help Watson's case that he hasn't looked great throughout the entirety of his 14 starts with the Browns since arriving in 2022, as he has totaled 15 passing touchdowns and 11 picks.
We'll see if Watson can start righting the ship against the New York Giants on Sunday.
