Deshaun Watson will definitely be returning to the Cleveland Browns in 2025, but there’s now a chance that he won’t be able to play a single down next season after suffering a devastating setback while rehabbing from a torn Achilles that he suffered in October.
CBS Sports NFL insider Jonathan Jones has reported that Watson tore his Achilles during rehab. The QB underwent surgery for his new injury on Thursday, marking the second time in less than 12 weeks that he’s undergone surgery to fix his Achilles.
Browns general manager Andrew Berry had revealed on Monday that Watson experienced a setback in his recovery, but at the time, he didn’t reveal any specifics.
“As we went through our normal player medical process, we did learn that he did have a setback in his Achilles recovery,” Berry told the media. “We don’t have all the details and everything yet, but it will obviously extend the recovery process for him. It is new information just learned in the past couple of hours, so I don’t have everything yet.”
Now that Watson has torn his Achilles again, it seems unlikely that he’ll be able to play in 2025.
It generally takes nine to 12 months for a player to recover from an Achilles injury, which means Watson would be pushing it to get back by September.
Kirk Cousins tore his Achilles on Oct. 30, 2023 and was able to return for the Atlanta Falcons‘ 2024 opener on Sept. 8. Aaron Rodgers tore his Achilles on Sept. 11, 2023 with the Jets and was able to return for their 2024 opener on Sept. 9.
Watson’s injury originally occurred on Oct. 20, so if that had been his only issue, a Week 1 return would have likely been possible, but his new injury definitely throws a wrench into that.
During his press conference on Monday, Berry didn’t rule out the possibility of Watson missing 2025.
“I don’t want to rule out anything with a major injury,” Berry said. “We are still collecting all the information. Obviously, our main focus is to make sure he can get as healthy as possible.”
With Watson now rehabbing from a second Achilles tear, there’s a good chance he would miss a good chunk of the 2025 season, if not all of it.
The Browns restructured Watson’s fully guaranteed contract in late December, and with the way it was set up, it pretty much guaranteed he would be on the roster for the 2025 season. The Browns did take out insurance on Watson’s contract, so if he can’t play at all in 2025, the team would get some financial relief from the $46 million in fully guaranteed salary that he’s owed.
Going into 2025 offseason, the Browns were going to be in the market for a quarterback to possibly compete with Watson, but if he can’t play at all, they’re going to be in the market for a starting quarterback. The Browns clinched the No. 2 overall pick in the NFL Draft on Sunday, and with Watson’s setback, it now seems a lot more likely that they’ll end up taking a quarterback with that pick.
We took a look at a few QB options for Browns and you can check those out here.
Watson started a total of seven games for the Browns this season before tearing his Achilles on Oct. 20. If Watson were to miss the 2025 season, that means he would have missed 38 of a possible 51 games due to injury over a three-season span where the Browns had to pay him $46 million in guaranteed money each year.