Watson played in six games the past two seasons. After sitting out the 2021 campaign, he served an 11-game suspension for violating the league’s personal conduct policy for sexual misconduct after two dozen women accused him of inappropriate behavior during massage therapy sessions.
Upon returning to the field late last season, Watson looked like a player who’d been off the gridiron for 700 days. His play was disjointed, processing a tick slow, and the offense never looked entirely comfortable.
The Browns are banking on those issues being in the past.
“I’m pretty far ahead of where I was last year,” Watson said Wednesday, via the team’s official transcript. “Last year was, as far as football, being on the field, just running a new system, trying to adapt to different teammates, different players, how guys run routes, how Kevin (Stefanski) calls the plays, and just being able to process the game at the speed I know. Being a year in and being able to talk to Kevin and AVP (OC Andy Van Pelt) about what we want to do and being confident about it, it allows me to play a little bit faster when I’m on the field.”