The 2024 NFL regular season kicked off Thursday night in exciting fashion, as the Kansas City Chiefs just barely hung on to defeat the Baltimore Ravens. Both Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson put on a master class in quarterbacking, displaying some of the best the NFL has to offer at the position.
Unfortunately for fans of the Cleveland Browns, they’re likely to see the opposite end of the quarterback play spectrum, at least as far as one NFL analyst is concerned. Dan Pizzuta of The 33rd Team recently released his ranking of the league’s starting quarterbacks heading into the regular season. It should come as no surprise that Mahomes and Jackson are two of the top three quarterbacks in Pizzuta’s rankings (numbers 1 and 3 respectively). What may surprise some is where Pizzuta ranks Browns starting quarterback Deshaun Watson.
Watson has had some significant struggles since arriving in Cleveland after a massive trade sent him packing from the Houston Texans. Those struggles have earned Watson a place at the very bottom of the quarterback rankings among non-rookies, according to Pizzuta. Watson comes in as the 29th-ranked starting quarterback overall, ahead of only rookie QBs Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, and Bo Nix.
That ranking puts Watson below the likes of the Giants’ Daniel Jones, Vikings’ Sam Darnold, and Panthers’ Bryce Young, all quarterbacks who have arguably received more national scrutiny for their poor performance, despite having fewer weapons around them, than Watson, who has had an offense with Amari Cooper and Nick Chubb to help him carry the load.
Watson will have his first chance to prove the doubters wrong as he and the Browns face Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys. It’ll be a tough task for Watson to outduel one of the league’s best QBs in Prescott (Pizzuta’s 5th-ranked QB), especially without Chubb.
On the positive side, the Browns offense added former Denver Broncos wide receiver Jerry Jeudy to the fold in the offseason to try and bolster Waston’s production. Sunday will be our first opportunity to see those two in action together, as well.
