Who could have seen this coming? In the final season of Deshaun Watson's five-year contract with the Cleveland Browns, he is finally starting to ball out. The former Clemson Tigers and Houston Texans star has had a miserable time since being traded to Cleveland ahead of the 2022 NFL season. Amid injuries and scandal, he was on the worst contract in the entire league. Not anymore...
Four weeks into the 2026 NFL season, the Browns are 3-1. They have won three straight since falling on the road to another Clemson legend, Trevor Lawrence's Jacksonville Jaguars. With wins over Tampa Bay, Carolina, and now Pittsburgh, maybe Cleveland can win its first division title since the late 1980s? Watson has been a huge part of this, as has his working relationship with Todd Monken.
Over Watson's last three games -- all Browns victories, by the way -- he has completed 64-of-93 passes for 650 yards, five touchdowns, and one interception. We are seeing vintage Watson before our very eyes! It helps having a quarterback whisperer in Monken as his head coach. Although Watson did not start the season off on the right foot, he is slowly but surely turning jaded Browns fans into believers.
Deshaun Watson over his last 3 games:
— Underdog NFL (@UnderdogNFL) October 2, 2026
64-of-93
650 passing yards
5 TD, 1 INT
3-0 record
The Browns now sit atop the AFC North. pic.twitter.com/dDqFhqMGi3
Cleveland Browns are finally winning games because of Deshaun Watson
It is funny how things work out. Most NFL pundits panned Cleveland's decision to hire Monken, even though Baltimore Ravens and Georgia Bulldogs fans know all too well what he is capable of as an elite offensive mind. Houston may have gotten a boatload in return for Watson in that controversial 2022 offseason trade. Interestingly enough, Houston is one of only five NFL teams that are still winless.
We saw Monken do this with Lamar Jackson in Baltimore not that long ago. Right before that, Monken took a former two-star JUCO transfer quarterback, Stetson Bennett IV, to the promised land twice at Georgia. Monken is why Carson Beck had been tied to the Browns throughout the 2026 NFL Draft process and why the idea of Bennett coming to Cleveland is still so intriguing after all of these years.
Yes, we have to give Watson credit where it is due, but the big change for him is as head coach. This is not to say that Monken's predecessor, Kevin Stefanski, cannot find success now with the Atlanta Falcons. It just goes to show that Monken probably should have been a head coach a long time ago. We have to wonder why the Michigan Wolverines never took a good, honest, hard look at him before.
Right now, Cleveland is not just winning games with Watson; the Browns are winning games because of Watson. While there is a certain set of mental gymnastics one may need to sort through to get behind actively rooting for Watson again, Cleveland wants itself a winner more than anything else in the world. It was always going to come to a critical point with Watson in Cleveland, but he is thriving.
The NFL is a long season, but the early returns of Watson working with Monken have been splendid.
Add us as a preferred source on Google