Deshaun Watson was clearly kidding, but unfortunately for the Browns, they were the butt of the Clemson national championship-winning quarterback’s joke.
Remember when Texas A&M defensive end Myles Garrett begged the Dallas Cowboys to trade with the Browns and draft him No. 1 overall in a video produced by ESPN?
Of course you do. The video was filmed in December but went viral less than two weeks ago.
Well, there seems to be a pattern developing here among some of the highest-profile prospects in April’s draft because Watson took a page out of Garrett’s playbook Monday while accepting the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award in Fort Worth, Texas.
Except Watson pitched his fantasy trade between the Browns and Cowboys in front of a crowd, which included Cowboys coach Jason Garrett.
Watson playfully urged Garrett to trade quarterbacks Dak Prescott and Tony Romo to the Browns so the Cowboys could pick him. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram posted a video of Watson’s acceptance speech on its website Wednesday.
“The Browns do need a quarterback,” Watson said, drawing laughter from the crowd. “You can trade both of them [Prescott and Romo]. I’m sitting right there. They [the Browns] need two [quarterbacks]. They need two.”
Watson didn’t lie about the Browns, who have the first and 12th overall picks, and his tone certainly wasn’t malicious. Yet his repartee reminded everyone the Browns are a national punch line in the aftermath of their 1-15 season and many years of futility epitomized by the team starting 26 quarterbacks since 1999.
Myles Garrett, labeled by almost all draft analysts as the front-runner to become the No. 1 overall pick, is a native of Arlington, Texas, where the Cowboys play their home games.
But the Cowboys are not the hometown team of Watson, a Gainesville, Ga., native. He explained his flirtation with the Cowboys, who have the 28th overall pick, started last year as he talked to Jason Garrett after winning the Davey O’Brien award the first time.
“I told coach Garrett if I’m back here [at the awards ceremony], you have to draft me,” Watson said. “So I know there’s a lot of Dallas Cowboys fans. Tony Romo is healthy. Dak, I’m a huge fan. ... You fell in love with him. But, hey, I did my part. You have to do your part.”
Then Watson quipped he would talk to Garrett more about his proposal next week at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis and pointed out the Browns’ need for not one, but two QBs.
One of the top-rated quarterbacks in this year’s draft class, Watson declined to participate in the Senior Bowl in January after speaking to Browns coach Hue Jackson. Jackson would have coached Watson as a member of the South team had he accepted his invitation to the Senior Bowl.
A week after the college all-star game and during Super Bowl festivities, Watson was asked on NFL Network whether he skipped the Senior Bowl because he doesn’t want the Browns to pick him.
“That’s wrong, false information,” Watson replied. “I talked to Hue Jackson. We had a great conversation right after the national championship game and I told him, ‘Hey, this is what I’m thinking about,’ and he understood everything. And then I talked with my family. I talked with my agent, my trainer, all the coaches at Clemson, and it was just best for me to go ahead and get started in the draft process.”
Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Browns blog at www.ohio.com/browns. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/NateUlrichABJ and on Facebook www.facebook.com/abj.sports.