Deshaun Watson is no longer named among the elite, best of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. If lucky, he squeaks in just outside the top 10 on such offseason lists.
Watson accepts he has a lot to prove to return to that level.
"I missed two years of football, so I shouldn't be in those rankings, to be honest," Watson said Wednesday, via The Associated Press. "If you're asking me, I haven't played ball. I haven't played enough football the last few years to even be up there.
"So I got to go out there and prove and show what I got to do to get back in those conversations."
Once a mainstay in the tier with Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Rodgers, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, etc., in any conversation about top signal-callers, Watson's reputation on and off the field has been in disarray. Sexual misconduct allegations during massage sessions cost Watson the entire 2021 season and 11 games in 2022 following his suspension.
When he returned after that long layoff, he wasn't close to the quarterback who led the NFL in passing yards in 2020 and made three consecutive Pro Bowls. To say he looked rusty wouldn't begin to describe the six games Watson played in 2022. With him under center, the Cleveland offense looked like a corroded 1986 Buick Estate Wagon with no fender that followed around a salt truck all winter.
The disjointed operation hasn't looked much better this offseason, with rumblings about how Watson fits in Kevin Stefanski's system overshadowing the Browns' preseason.
"I'm self-driven," Watson said. "I want to be the best I can be for Deshaun Watson. I can't get caught up in the other guys and seeing what they're doing and all of them are elite. If you're a starting quarterback in this league, you're pretty elite.
"This is a hard business. This is a hard job to have and it's only 32 spots. I feel like everyone's elite and I got to be self-driven to be the best Deshaun Watson I can be for this team and for myself."
The Browns bet big -- $230 million guaranteed big – that Watson would eventually return to form. The 2023 season will go a long way to proving whether that bet was correct.
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