Cleveland Browns Veteran Gives Honest Perspective On Team's QB Situation

While people outside the Browns organization think it's time for a change at quarterback, Deshaun Watson maintains support inside the locker room

Oct 13, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson (4) waits for the snap from guard Michael Dunn (68) against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images / Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

Everyone outside of the Cleveland Browns organization has an opinion about the state of their quarterback situation. That comes with the territory when your team is 1-5 on the season and boats the worst offense in football by many metrics.

Following the team's loss to the Eagles in Week 6, former Browns offensive lineman Mitchell Schwartz took to X to share why he thought it was unfair for the team to continue touting Deshaun Watson as the QB who gives Cleveland the best chance to win. In his message, he referenced his former teammate and friend Joel Bitonio, who in year 11 of his career has seen plenty of inconsistent QB play.

Bitonio admitted that he didn't see Schwartz message following the game, but also added some context to the situation, explaining why it feels inappropriate to blame everything on Watson.

ICYMI: #Browns QB Deshaun Watson hoped Amari Cooper could have stayed through the end of the season but confident in WR room he leaves behind: https://t.co/dQ4tjYkIqH

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"I haven't seen what he was referencing, but we truly have to do our job to our fullest before we can point fingers at other people," said Bitonio. "The offense has to be, let's give ourselves a chance. We get down to the red zone, we have penalties, we miss blocks, we run the wrong route sometimes. All these things add up where you can't just be like, oh yeah, if we just change one thing, we'll be good. We have to really give ourselves a chance and then we kind of look at it."

To Bitonio's point, the problems with the offense may start under center, but they certainly don't end there. The 33-year-old went on to outline the numerous issues that have plagued the Browns throughout the first six weeks of the season and maintained that Watson has the support of the guys in the locker room.

"I don't think anybody's thought differently," Bitonio said of whether or not it's time for a QB change. "I've told the offense we have to at least give ourselves a chance to perform. We've hurt ourselves so much with penalties, with MAs, with misalignments, with missed blocks. I don't think we can fairly evaluate what we've done. I'm like, let's play a complete game and then if we still lose, then we can ask questions."

Leave it to one of the elder statesmen of the Browns roster to bring some perspective to the state of the offense. Still, even Bitonio knows those questions will persist about the quarterback outside the organization if the losing continues. A winning performance against division rival Cincinnati this weekend, may be just the thing to silence some of that noise.