Texans Daily

Deshaun Watson Reinstatement from Suspension Today, Ready for Browns at Texans?

When can some immediate judgments be made about the controversial exit? Assuming Deshaun Watson is ready, when the Browns visit the Texans at NRG Stadium on Dec. 4.

Mike Fisher

Today is the day.

The lowly Texans had a Week 12 game to play, shuffled QBs from Davis Mills to Kyle Allen, and were massive underdogs in it as they oppose the Miami Dolphins.

Predictably, none of that quite worked out.

Next up? It is Week 13, Browns at Texans ... and a circle-the-date meeting.

With Deshaun Watson at QB for the visiting Browns at NRG Stadium.

Tom Pelissero of NFL Network notes that since being reinstated to practice, Watson "has spent the past two weeks in workouts mostly impersonating Josh Allen and Tom Brady on the Cleveland Browns' scout team.''

And on Monday - today - arrives his full reinstatement.

But there have also been ramp-up opportunities, NFL Network writes - "a rep here and there with the first string, on the side with receivers, in meetings with coaches'' - when Watson has been putting in the work that the Browns hope will have him ready to go on Dec. 4 against his old team in Houston.

That's always been the plan from the start of his 11-game suspension for violating the league's personal-conduct policy. But while the NFL no longer has hoops for him to jump through, there is still a matter of game-day readiness. Watson, the three-time Pro Bowler, hasn't played in two years after having clashed with Texans management, then finding himself as the plaintiff in almost two dozen sexual-misconduct lawsuits against him, and finally being granted a trade to Cleveland that netted Houston a huge package of draft picks, including first-rounders in the 2022, 2023 and 2024 drafts ...

While also netting Watson an unprecedented new five-year contract worth $230 million fully guaranteed.

When will the deal pay off for Houston? All the picks need to be cashed in and most of them need to work out.

When will the deal pay off for Cleveland? An immediate playoff-level turnaround seems unlikely.

When can some immediate judgments be made? Assuming Deshaun Watson is ready, when the Browns visit the Texans at NRG Stadium on Dec. 4.

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Mike Fisher
MIKE FISHER

Mike Fisher - as a newspaper beat writer and columnist and on radio and TV, where he is an Emmy winner - has covered the NFL since 1983, is the Texas-based author of two best-selling books on the NFL.