The owner of the Cleveland Browns has been accused of telling his head coach who he should play in games this season.
The Browns, who managed to reach the playoffs on the wave of stand-in quarterback Joe Flacco’s form, have gotten off to an awful start in 2024. And it doesn’t seem like there’s an end in sight where this rut is concerned.
Cleveland was on the wrong end of a blowout on Sunday, losing 34-13 to the Washington Commanders, with starting QB Deshaun Watson throwing up another stinker as he completed just 50 percent of his passes for 125 yards.
Cleveland is languishing in the AFC North, with both them and their neighbors, the Cincinnati Bengals, dropping to 1-4 following the weekend’s slate of fixtures. However, they remain intent on sticking with Watson despite the calls to bench him, which one could argue is understandable when you consider his fully-guaranteed $230 million contract.
“We’re not changing quarterbacks. We need to play better. I need to coach better,” Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski said in a press conference after Sunday’s loss.
ESPN Analyst Thinks The Cleveland Browns Are Forcing Their Coach To Stick With Deshaun Watson
Stefanski’s intransigence has prompted ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky to make claims of the team’s ownership forcing the coach to keep playing Watson.
“The Cleveland Browns are in the worst situation in pro sports. They’re done and so is Deshaun Watson. If you want to see a situation where the head coach has absolutely no say over who’s playing on the field, it’s happening in Cleveland,” Orlovksy said on ‘Get Up’ this Monday.
Of course, there’s no way of knowing for sure, but Orlovsky and anyone else who believes this can be forgiven for thinking as much, given the absurdity of it all.
