Deshaun Watson fires back after Browns owner laments QB's acquisition: I'll be back 'way better than before'

The veteran has likely played his last down in Cleveland

A week after Jimmy Haslam, the man who signs his paychecks, declared his 2022 acquisition a "big swing and miss," Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson is broadcasting a message of his own. Lamenting that "everyone's doubting me," the maligned former Pro Bowler argued in an Instagram video this week that he's more prepared than ever to withstand turmoil, predicting he'll return "way better than before."

Watson, 29, is currently rehabbing from a twice-torn Achilles tendon, which cost him half of the 2024 season and could keep him sidelined for the entire 2025 campaign. Even if he were to return earlier than expected, it's unlikely he'll take another snap for Cleveland, with Haslam, the team's owner, publicly dubbing Watson a failed gamble. The Browns acquired Kenny Pickett, a potential starter, via trade this offseason, and they've not been shy about their interest in pursuing additional competition, perhaps in the form of an early draft pick at the position.

As for Watson, who's played in just 19 total games since the Browns acquired him in exchange for three first-round picks in 2022, the former Houston Texans standout believes he's a future comeback story.

"Your [best] performance comes when your back is against the wall," he said, narrating video of himself working out in Browns gear. "You don't have anything to lose. And I feel like that's where I'm at right now. You know, everyone's doubting me. Everyone don't believe in me. Everyone don't think that I can get back to where I was. But I know and I believe ... The peace that I've been channeling these last couple months, I know I'm gonna be way better than before."

Watson, who settled dozens of civil lawsuits alleging serial sexual misconduct prior to his trade to the Browns, added that he feels better equipped to counter outside noise at this point in his career.

"I'm prepared," he said. "And I think before I wasn't prepared, because I was kinda going with the flow of how the world was seeing me. But when you kinda get knocked down to the ground and you gotta stand back up and walk through the rain, that brings out another fire, another challenge, another grit that you have inside you. ... My mentality, the things that I gotta deal with on the outside, [I'm] not taking everything personal like I [did] before."