Deshaun Watson Won't Play For Browns In Week 8

Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski announced that veteran backup P.J. Walker will start under center against Seattle

There was no playing coy from Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski this week in regards to Deshaun Watson's shoulder.

Ahead of practice on Wednesday, the fourth-year head coach declared Watson out for the team's Week 8 matchup with the Seattle Seahawks. Stefanski cited the hit Watson took in the Colts game and "residual swelling" as reasons for the decision. The Browns signal caller will instead spend the week focusing on rehabbing the shoulder.

"P.J. [Walker] is gonna start this week," Stefanski stated. "Deshaun is going to focus on his rehab. I just feel like what happened in the game, landing on his shoulder – there's residual swelling that's effecting his throwing. I think it's the best thing for him to rest this week and focus on the rehab. 

The hit Stefanski referenced is the hard push Watson took in the first quarter of their matchup with Indianapolis this past weekend, that sent him falling backwards to the turf and slamming his head. The initial fear was that the 28-year-old signal caller had suffered a concussion, but NFL doctors cleared him of that during the game.

Still, Watson was withheld from returning to action, a move Stefanski took responsibility for, citing in an effort to protect star QB. It appears that is his intention once again, by ruling the former Texan out so early in the week.

"I will always make what I think are the best decisions for our football team, for Deshaun," Stefanski said. "And I feel like this is the right decision for this week."

Despite concern over the forceful his Watson took in Indianapolis and the "residual swelling" that Stefanski mentioned, the Browns head man did clarify that an MRI this week showed no structural damage to Watson's throwing shoulder.

As the saga surrounding Watson's injury rolls into a fifth week now, some critics have called into question Watson's toughness and "want to" play. On Tuesday, a spat between former Browns quarterback Brady Quinn and Watson's QB coach Quincy Avery made the rounds on social media, after Brady made comments of that nature. 

Stefanski reiterated, as the team has throughout this process, that Watson's desire to play is not at all in question.

"He's trying like crazy," Stefanski said. "This is not for lack of effort. He's making every effort he can to be out there, but with the hit he took and with the swelling, it makes the most sense to focus on rehab this week. He'll be out there as soon as he's ready."

From the outside looking in, there are questions to be had about whether or not the team should have placed Watson on the IR from the outset of the injury following Week 3. For all intents and purposes, this will be Watson's fourth missed game, which is the exact amount of contests a player would miss on short-term IR.

The explanation for why that didn't happen from Stefanski, is that the team was following what they knew. 

"We make decisions based on the information that we have every day," the Browns head coach explained. "You've heard me say 'day-to-day and that's just based on the player, how he's feeling, the information with the injury, all those things. You're just trying to make the best decision you can."
 
Prior to the Colts game, Watson himself spoke publicly about the injury for the first time and mentioned that rotator cuff injuries like the one he's dealing with normally take four to six weeks to heal. He too explained that both he the team have been taking that day-to-day approach because the recovery time can vary.