Deshaun Watson appears to have suffered a serious injury.
The Cleveland Browns quarterback was carted off the field during the team’s Week 7 game against the Cincinnati Bengals. This was the scene from Cleveland’s stadium from late in the first half:
Deshaun Watson injury update
The Deshaun Watson leg injury happened on a 2nd-and-6 play just outside the Bengals’ red zone. Watson begins moving to his right, but goes down with a non-contact injury. NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport reports that it is feared that Watson has suffered a torn Achilles injury. If that is the case, then it will likely be a season-ending injury for the Browns quarterback. Dorian Thompson-Robinson is the only other active quarterback on the Browns’ roster for their Week 7 game against the Bengals. Meanwhile, Winston was among the team’s inactives for the AFC North grudge match. So it will be DTR getting the snaps for the rest of this game.
Now if Deshaun Watson is out for the year, then that opens up things for larger conversations. The Browns being stuck turning to Dorian Thompson-Robinson or Jameis Winston to start under center in the short term is one thing. But the combination of Watson’s poor play this season and injury status could spark discussions about moving on from him and going in a new direction at quarterback. The 2025 NFL Draft class isn’t loaded with top-flight quarterback options. However, it shouldn’t be too hard to do better than Watson, who was sporting a career-worst 76.6 passer rating coming into this week’s game
We’ll continue to monitor Deshaun Watson’s situation for updates.