Before the Cleveland Browns contemplate how to move forward in a 1-6 season without their starting quarterback, Myles Garrett made clear he wouldn’t stand for the fan base’s reaction to a defining moment from Sunday.
After quarterback Deshaun Watson suffered what the team believes could be a season-ending Achilles injury in Sunday’s 21-14 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, many fans booed the struggling signal-caller while he remained down on the field and later carted off.
That didn’t sit well with Garrett, the five-time Pro Bowl defensive end and reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year, who called Watson ‘a model citizen through college and most of the pros.’
‘Whether it’s an opponent that goes down or one of our own (players), we don’t boo,’ Garrett said in a postgame news conference. ‘We don’t boo guys that are injured on the field, especially when the cart comes out. We should be ashamed of ourselves, as Browns and as fans, to boo anyone and their downfall.’
Watson, who was also widely booed during pregame introductions, has floundered in his third season with the Browns, who traded a pick package that included more than three first-round selections to acquire him and later signed him to a fully guaranteed five-year, $230 million contract. Cleveland remains the only team in the NFL yet to score 20 points in a game this year.
All things Browns: Latest Cleveland Browns news, schedule, roster, stats, injury updates and more.
Nevertheless, Browns coach Kevin Stefanski vowed last week to stick with Watson, saying the quarterback ‘gives us the best chance to win.’
‘The man’s not perfect. He doesn’t need to be,’ Garrett said. ‘None of us expect to be perfect. Can’t judge him for what he does on the field or off the field, because I can’t throw stones from my glass house.
‘But we need to do better. We need to do better on the football field, and we need to do better as fans for having some empathy for having some empathy for a man who’s doing the best he can, and did the best he can to this point.’
Jameis Winston, who entered Sunday’s game as the emergency quarterback after backup Dorian Thompson-Robinson suffered a finger injury in the fourth quarter, echoed Garrett’s sentiments.
‘I am grateful that I had a chance to serve Deshaun, but I am very upset with the reaction to a man that’s had the world against him for the past four years,’ Winston told reporters after the game. ‘And he put his body and life on the line for this city, every single day. Regardless of your perception, regardless of what you thought should happen with him, he committed every single day that I’ve been here to be the best that he can be for this team.’
Added Winston: ‘I do not want the treatment that Deshaun Watson has received from these passionate fans. I know you love this game. When I first got here, I knew these were some amazing fans. But Deshaun was treated badly, and now he has to overcome another obstacle.’
Browns cornerback Greg Newsome II was far more explicit in his assessment of fans’ reactions.
‘That was (expletive). I noticed it right away,’ Newsome told reporters after the game. ‘No matter what you feel about a player, performance-wise or not, you don’t boo a guy that’s down, that can’t get up by himself. So, yeah, that was (expletive).’
Watson was suspended for the first 11 games of the 2022 NFL season for violating the league’s conduct policy after he was accused by more than two dozen women of sexual misconduct during massage sessions. He played in just six games in 2023 as well before being sidelined by a shoulder injury.
(This story has been updated with new information and a new video.)
All the NFL news on and off the field. Sign up for USA TODAY’s 4th and Monday newsletter.
