Deshaun Watson has a ‘micro-tear’ of the right rotator cuff and doesn’t know when he’ll be able to throw at full velocity
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland. He has covered the Browns since 1984.
Takeaways from Browns practice and interviews …
The good news was Deshaun Watson spoke to media for the first time in three weeks.
The bad news is he still isn’t practicing with the team.
Worse, he doesn’t know when he will play. There’s no timeline.
Yet Kevin Stefanski won’t rule him out from playing Sunday in Indianapolis.
“Correct,” the coach said. “We’ll deal with day to day.”
And so it goes.
Watson appeared somber speaking about the injury that has frustrated him, paralyzed the team’s offense, and tortured fans since it occurred in his finest game yet with the Browns against the Tennessee Titans on September 24.
Watson verified the injury came on the 10-yard keeper run in the third quarter on which Tennessee safety Amani Hooker made hard contact with his right shoulder.Watson never seemed affected by it. He executed a quarterback sneak and tossed a 43-yard TD to Amari Cooper before exiting the game with a 27-3 lead and 6:51 to play.
“We didn’t know what it was during the game,” Watson said. “The injury, we felt it during the game, but at the time, my adrenaline was going and everything’s kind of flowing so certain throws were kind of easier. I just kind of dealt with it. You know it was a couple of throws where I felt it, but we didn’t know exactly what it was.”
Deshaun Watson doesn't know for sure when he'll be able to play again. He hasn't practiced with the team since suffering a 'micro-tear,' or strain, of his right rotator cuff in the Tennessee game on September 24. (TheLandOnDemand)
Watson said swelling in the area prevented having an MRI until Saturday. He said the results came in Saturday night and showed a 'strain' of the rotator cuff. He decided to wait till Sunday morning before the Ravens game to decide if he could play. He couldn’t throw much in a pre-game workout. Only then did the Browns realize that rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson would have to make his first NFL start in one of the most important early games of the season. The Browns lost, 28-3, in a division game that will affect playoff implications far more than their 19-17 surprise victory over the San Francisco 49ers last week.
What was once called a contusion, or a bruise, is now being called a strain, or a “micro-tear” of Watson’s right rotator cuff.
“It’s a strain. So strain. It’s a micro tear,” he said. “So it’s like small. It’s basically like getting a cut on the hand, a couple of slashes on the hand of that muscle, and that’s what a micro-tear strain for the rotator cuff is.”
Watson was asked if he’s been told that the injury may linger all season or that he could be at 100 percent at some point.
“I’m not sure,” he said. “This is my first time dealing with a rotator cuff, so I’m just trying to get as comfortable as I possibly can to go out there and perform at the level I know I can. And if I can’t, then we just got to continue to take it day to day. I’m not going to put the team in jeopardy if I can’t do certain things that is going to allow us to be handicapped in certain situations. So that’s the reason why I haven’t been able to step on the field.”
He said his throwing has been “trending up,” but there are days he doesn’t even throw. He has no idea when the strain will heal and allow him to throw at full velocity.
“Yeah, I mean, it can be any day, it can be tomorrow, it can be Sunday, it can be two weeks from now,” he said. “I’m not even sure. Like I said, day to day and I’m following the steps of the medical team, and when that time is ready, then I’m going to go out there. I can’t put a timeline on anything right now.”
Watson’s voice picked up when he was asked if questions about his toughness or desire to play circulated on social media upset him.
“Yeah of course,” he said. “You know, I’ve never been the type of guy that’s been questioned about my toughness, but I guess whatever they want to put out, then everyone’s entitled to their own opinions. "As long as this locker room and this organization know who I am and what I’m dealing with, then that’s all that matters. All the outside noise, all the other stuff is just, they are feeding off of what is said on social media and all that stuff isn’t real. What is real is in this locker room, and that’s all that matters.”
P.J. still No. 2
To nobody’s surprise, Stefanski affirmed that P.J. Walker would make his second start in Indianapolis if Watson doesn’t play.
Last week Walker became the first No. 3 quarterback in a Browns season to post a win in his first start. Twelve others since 1999 had lost by an average score of 28-11.
“He has to do what all of our backups have to do. You have to be ready to play,” Stefanski said. “And I think we’ve all seen it over the course of this season. It can go really up and down our roster, and you rely on your backups when the starter can’t go. And I think that’s what P.J. will be ready to do if called upon.”
Playing in Indianapolis would be a homecoming for Walker. He was signed by the Colts as an undrafted free agent in 2017. He spent 2017 and 2018 on their practice squad and never was called up to the regular roster. When the Colts waived Walker at the 2019 53 cut, he joined the upstart XFL and played with the Houston Roughnecks.
Brownie bits
Left guard Joel Bitonio returned to practice after missing two weeks following arthroscopic surgery on a knee at the bye week …
Besides Watson, players who did not practice because of injury designations: Linebacker Anthony Walker (concussion protocol), running back Kareem Hunt (thigh), tight end Harrison Bryant (hip) and cornerback Greg Newsome (hamstring) …
Kicker Dustin Hopkins was named AFC special teams player of the week for making four field goals in the 19-17 win over the 49ers. Sunday’s game in Indianapolis could turn into a kicking duel. Hopkins is 15th in field-goal accuracy (.857, 12 of 14) with four field goals of 50+. Colts kicker Matt Gay is ninth in accuracy (.917, 11 of 12) with five field goals of 50+.
