Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson has led his team to a 3-1 record, the franchise's best start since 2021. Cleveland fans have been vocal about Watson, booing him off the field and bashing him on social media.
Sitting at 3-1, boos have turned into cheers. In this city, when you win football games, all seems to be forgiven.
Now, the Browns have not won in dominant fashion. Each of their wins has been by less than five points, and Watson has a modest but efficient stat line of his own: throwing for 855 yards, six touchdowns and two interceptions.
What has been the shift, and why does Watson look comfortable after years of poor play?
The hidden shift is that Watson is throwing shorter than he ever has but is gaining more value since his days in Houston, where he consistently reached the 4,000-yard threshold.
This season, Watson's average depth of target is 6.63, the lowest of his career, and his 60.6% yards-after-catch share is the highest.
| # | Season | adot |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2017 | 11.0 |
| 2 | 2018 | 8.6 |
| 3 | 2019 | 8.9 |
| 4 | 2020 | 8.9 |
| 5 | 2022 | 7.1 |
| 6 | 2023 | 9.3 |
| 7 | 2024 | 7.3 |
| 8 | 2026 | 6.6 |
Methodology
Frozen rows from a deep-dig claim verified server-side on 2026-10-06. The SQL ran read-only in the dig sandbox against the canonical corpus and is recorded for review; it is never re-executed. SELECT season, SUM(attempts) AS att, ROUND(SUM(passing_air_yards)*1.0/SUM(attempts),2) AS adot, ROUND(100.0*SUM(passing_yards_after_catch)/SUM(passing_yards),1) AS yac_share_pct, ROUND(SUM(passing_yards)*1.0/SUM(attempts),2) AS ypa FROM player_week_stats WHERE player_name='Deshaun Watson' AND season_type='REG' GROUP BY season ORDER BY season
He may not have DeAndre Hopkins to launch the ball to anymore, but weapons like Denzel Boston, KC Concepcion and Harold Fannin Jr. are making his life easier during long, methodical drives.
No Browns receiver is above 300 yards through four games this season. Concepcion leads the team in targets at 28. Serious deep threats Boston, Isaiah Bond and Jerry Jeudy combine for just 32 targets.
Running backs Quinshon Judkins and Raheim Sanders have 25 catches for 169 yards with more yards-after-catch (YAC) than air yards, which is where the 60.6% YAC share comes from.
| # | player name | targets |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | KC Concepcion | 28 |
| 2 | Harold Fannin Jr. | 23 |
| 3 | Denzel Boston | 22 |
| 4 | Quinshon Judkins | 16 |
| 5 | Raheim Sanders | 11 |
| 6 | Jerry Jeudy | 8 |
| 7 | Blake Whiteheart | 3 |
| 8 | Isaiah Bond | 2 |
Methodology
Frozen rows from a deep-dig claim verified server-side on 2026-10-06. The SQL ran read-only in the dig sandbox against the canonical corpus and is recorded for review; it is never re-executed. SELECT player_name, position, SUM(targets) AS targets, SUM(receptions) AS rec, SUM(receiving_yards) AS rec_yds, SUM(receiving_yards_after_catch) AS yac, SUM(receiving_tds) AS rec_td FROM player_week_stats WHERE season=2026 AND season_type='REG' AND team='CLE' AND targets>0 GROUP BY 1,2 ORDER BY targets DESC LIMIT 8
If the short passing is designed to protect the 31-year-old Watson, the test is whether the Browns' defense can hold teams, which they've been doing.
Yes, the Browns have mounted comebacks against Carolina and Tampa Bay, but neither of those games required Watson to convert on deep plays to scrape back into the game. Both times, the Browns trailed by one possession.
An intriguing stat through the first four weeks of the season is Watson returning to dual-threat form.
He runs more than any other quarterback in the league relative to the other ball carriers on the offense.
Watson has thirty-one of Cleveland's 102 team carries, or 30.4%, edging Josh Allen. For Allen, the carries fall under a system. For Watson, he rushes when he needs to.
Since 2006, only Jayden Daniels, Justin Fields, Lamar Jackson and Daniel Jones have opened a season with an average depth of throw (aDOT) and this many carries per game.
| # | player name | carry share pct |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Deshaun Watson | 30.40 |
| 2 | Josh Allen | 30 |
| 3 | Jalen Hurts | 20.40 |
| 4 | Malik Willis | 19.80 |
| 5 | Drake Maye | 19.20 |
| 6 | Brock Purdy | 17.40 |
| 7 | Tyler Shough | 16.20 |
| 8 | Justin Herbert | 15.90 |
| 9 | Lamar Jackson | 15 |
| 10 | Jacoby Brissett | 14.40 |
Methodology
Frozen rows from a deep-dig claim verified server-side on 2026-10-06. The SQL ran read-only in the dig sandbox against the canonical corpus and is recorded for review; it is never re-executed. WITH qb AS (SELECT player_name, team, SUM(carries) AS qb_car FROM player_week_stats WHERE season=2026 AND season_type='REG' AND position='QB' GROUP BY 1,2), t AS (SELECT team, SUM(carries) AS tm_car FROM team_week_stats WHERE season=2026 AND season_type='REG' GROUP BY 1) SELECT qb.player_name, qb.team, qb_car, tm_car, ROUND(100.0*qb_car/tm_car,1) AS carry_share_pct FROM qb JOIN t USING(team) WHERE qb_car>=15 ORDER BY carry_share_pct DESC LIMIT 10
While there is volume, Watson is only +0.6 EPA (expected points added) on those 31 carries, which trails behind Drake Maye, Allen, Brock Purdy and a few others.
There really haven't been any designed run plays for Watson except for a handful. The stat reads like a reaction and a scramble when the play falls apart.
Despite the low-efficiency running the ball, this is the best he has played in Cleveland.
Watson's +16.5 passing EPA over the four games beats out any four-game stretch of his Browns career. Also, he has more passing touchdowns in his first four games (6) than in seven games in 2024 (5), and his sack rate has fallen from 13.3% to 8.7%.
All of a sudden, the Browns find themselves at the top of the AFC North. The last time they were at the top was when Brian Hoyer was the quarterback, and that was on Nov. 9, 2014.
Cleveland travels to New York to take on the Jets as a 1-point underdog. If they win on Sunday, the game next weekend against Baltimore could be the most important game of the season, regardless of the week.