CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The decision to pursue Deshaun Watson was originally hatched by the football staff, even it was ultimately an organizational choice.
“It was definitely conceived by football operations,” team owner Jimmy Haslam said during a Zoom call on Friday. “I can tell you it was widely vetted throughout our organization, including ownership, but it was conceived in football operations.”
GM Andrew Berry called the process leading to Watson a “five-month odyssey” earlier in the day, but clarified the start of the odyssey was about regular due diligence as the front office turned the page from pre-trade deadline thinking to beginning the planning process for the offseason.
That process included learning about Watson, both on and off the field.
“I mentioned to you guys before that, every offseason, we do go and look at player availability or look at the roster as if we have an expansion team,” Berry said. “Certainly, as we got more involved into the research process, we did think through a number of different possibilities, but I can’t say that there was a specific decision made at that time.”
Jimmy Haslam made it clear the Browns didn’t seriously begin considering quarterback options until after the season ended with a 21-16 win over the Bengals.
“We did not begin earnestly looking at what our options were, including Deshaun, until after our last game against Cincinnati on January 9,” Jimmy Haslam said.
Once the process started, it was about ownership getting comfortable with the player facing 22 civil lawsuits alleging sexual misconduct and sexual assault and, at the time, facing criminal complaints. Two grand juries have since declined to indict Watson, first on March 11 and then again on Thursday.
“I know when I was brought in after the season was over,” Dee Haslam said. “I was included in the conversation of looking at our whole roster and particularly the quarterback position. As I said in my opening remarks, this was really hard. This was a journey that I had to get comfortable with, and I got comfortable with it the more people we talked to about Deshaun as a person and then I got more comfortable meeting Deshaun and having those conversations.”
It ended in the Browns giving up six draft picks, including their next three first-round picks, and giving Watson the most guaranteed money in NFL history, a five-year, $230 million fully guaranteed deal.
Watson indicated the contract wasn’t why he chose Cleveland and Jimmy Haslam supported that assertion.
“I will say this on behalf of Deshaun, I think maybe he struggled a little bit with the weather and how far it was away from home,” Haslam said, “and it took a period of time to get him comfortable with that.”
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