Deshaun Watson Makes Pitch For Rival Wide Receiver To Join Browns

As the Browns start building a team for 2024, quarterback Deshaun Watson wasted no time making his pitch for a free agent wide receiver to be to join him in Cleveland

All is fair in love and free agency.

The Browns are only two weeks removed from their season ending prematurely in the Wild Card round of the playoffs but quarterback Deshaun Watson isn't wasting any time trying to recruit some help for next season.

In the latest episode of the QB Unplugged Podcast that Watson co-hosts with his personal coach Quincy Avery, the Browns franchise QB made his best sales pitch to Bengals wideout and soon to be free agent Tee Higgins. Of course, Watson and Higgins both went to college at Clemson although they're paths didn't cross.

"The Browns should go ahead and grab my dawg, Tee," Avery suggested to Watson. Who went right into his sales pitch. "Hey Tee, let me tell you what's up with this man, he began while crossing his fingers. "You gonna get the ball, we wanna pass the ball. We gonna pass a lot."

"He ain't even gotta leave the state," Avery interjected.

"And we're gonna take good care of you," Watson added. "The Cleveland fans are gonna love you – they gonna love you to death. And we got the Clemson ties. We didn't get a chance to play together but this is our opportunity. So come on over to the land, man."

Bengals fans won’t like this, but #Browns QB Deshaun Watson openly advocated for the team to sign soon to be free agent WR Tee Higgins today on their podcast⬇️⬇️

(🎥 via: @Lockerverse, @deshaunwatson and @QuincyAvery) pic.twitter.com/t4KjpnUvsf

— MoreForYouCleveland (@MoreForYou_CLE) January 26, 2024

Higgins is expected to be one of the most highly sought-after free agent wideouts on the market come March, so long as he's not franchise tagged by the Bengals or extended. Spotrac lists the 25-year-old's market value at around $18.6 million per year.

If accurate, that's a lofty figure for the Browns to meet, considering the expensive roster they're already set to field for next season. It's going to be up to vice president of football operations and general manager Andrew Berry to get creative with his book keeping to free up plenty of cap space to address a number of needs across the roster – wide receiver included. 

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Watson isn't the first player to make a plea to Higgins to join his team. Earlier this week, Jets star cornerback Sauce Gardner was responding to a question on Twitter about which free agent he'd like the Jets to sign and mentioned Higgins as well as Jaguars wideout Calvin Ridley. Free agency doesn't open officially until March 13 but it appears Higgins already has suitors lining up for his services.

In his first four season as a pro, Higgins has caught 257 passes for 3,684 yards and 24 touchdowns. He posted back-to-back 1,000 yards seasons in 2021 and 2022 before battling an assortment of injuries this past season and only playing in 11 games. Time will tell if the Browns follow the desires of their starting QB and pursue Higgins this offseason or if they look elsewhere to bolster their wide receiver room.