Browns Disastrous QB Situation Exposed By Loss To Commanders' Jayden Daniels

After watching Deshaun Watson get outdueled by Washington's rookie signal caller, the Cleveland Browns must face the harsh reality of their QB situation

Oct 6, 2024; Landover, Maryland, USA; Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels (5) hugs Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson (4) after their game at NorthWest Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images / Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

There are moments throughout everyone’s life where a person must come to terms with the consequences of some regrettable action.

The Cleveland Browns are no different.

Their sobering reality came knocking on Sunday in a 34-13 loss to the Washington Commanders, dropping Cleveland to 1-4 on the season and for all intents and purposes, ending it before it ever really began.

There's no way around it. At 1-4 the #Browns are a bad football team. https://t.co/57ymmsrOEu

— 𝚂𝚙𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚛 𝙶𝚎𝚛𝚖𝚊𝚗 (@Spencito_) October 6, 2024

The embarrassment of a 21 point loss paled in comparison to the harsh truth that was realized about the Browns quarterback situation. While Deshaun Watson continued to lead what is undeniably the worst offense in football, across the field was a rookie QB who is all the things Watson is supposed to be.

Simply put, Jayden Daniels put on a show – as he’s done throughout each of the first five games of the season as he's made Washington the darling of the NFL. He amassed 238 yards passing, including tossing a 66-yard dot on the run to Terry McLaurin like it was nothing during the first quarter. He tossed one beautiful touchdown pass to Dami Brown late in the game, and added an additional 82 yards with his legs.

He was dynamic. He was confident. He didn’t dwell on any singular bad play – like the interception he tossed at the goal line several plays after that 66-yarder to McLaurin. On the very next possession, he orchestrated a six-play, 34-yard touchdown drive to get his team on the board first. It never looked back.

Daniels is poised beyond his years. And while he was diagnosing where the Browns were bringing pressure, Watson spent another week dazed and confused behind a struggling offensive line, often holding the ball too long with blitzing linebackers bearng down on him. Even when he did have time, he was misfiring to open receivers. Watson finished with 125 yards passing, 14 rushing and a garbage time touchdown once the game was already well in hand.

In fairness, the Browns problems on offense go beyond just Watson. The problem is, a quarterback that took three first round picks plus to acquire in a trade will always be expected to turn some of those problems into footnotes in a box score.

It’s not as if Daniels’ rebuilding Commanders squad is without flaws. And yet, his team is 4-1.

Daniels, in many ways, is the antithesis of Watson. As he confidently led an offense on a war-path, slicing and dicing the Browns defense, Watson’s unit retreated like a scared dog, tail between its legs, time and time again.

Watson was supposed to be the answer to the franchise’s long unanswered quarterback prayer. Plenty of general managers and head coaches tried and failed to identity the Browns franchise QB over the last 25 years. The organization spent the better part of the last two decades spinning their tires with the Derek Andersons. The Colt McCoys. The Brandon Weednens. The Johnny Manziels. The Deshone Kizers. The list goes on and on.

Well, those wheels are still spinning three years into the Watson experience. And while Cleveland clings to an idea of a quarterback that appears to be long gone now, a team like Washington has found a real life franchise QB.

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And that’s, perhaps, the biggest dilemma: there’s no easy out. Beyond this season the organization still has to account for $172 million of Watson’s fully-guaranteed $230 million contract. By kicking so much money down the road Cleveland has handcuffed itself. Get ready for two more years of tire spinning,

Meanwhile, there’s Daniels, just casually outdueling the Browns overpriced signal caller on a rookie deal that will leave the Commanders with plenty of cap flexibility to build around him in the foreseeable future. He also is a perfect symbol of hope that the team’s new owner Josh Harris can sell to the fans, and plaster all over the new stadium he hopes to build eventually.

Daniels represents something much different to the Browns. For them, he’s the poster child of “what could have been.” Cleveland could have done a lot with those three first round picks, starting with simply drafting other young players that could have boosted this roster.

Packaged together, they also form the type of package that may have afforded the Browns an opportunity to move up in the first round of a draft to take a QB (like, ahem, Daniels). No one really knows if the dominoes would have fallen that way, but they couldn’t have fallen any worse than they have.

Too burdened by years of failed rookie QB evaluations, the Browns tried to jump the line by throwing money and draft picks at the problem. Now they’re left scrambling as they try to salvage whatever they can out of Watson.

All the while wishing they had left Landover, Md with Daniels instead.