“It was definitely conceived by football operations,” team owner Jimmy Haslam said in the press conference announcing the Watson trade. “I can tell you it was widely vetted throughout our organization, including ownership, but it was conceived in football operations.”

Could the Cleveland Browns go in a different direction than expected when it comes to replacing quarterback Deshaun Watson?

The Cleveland Browns traded with the Houston Texans for Deshaun Watson in 2020 to solve their quarterback problems. Throughout the years, the franchise had spent a lot of time, effort, scouting, and money on getting a dependable signal caller to lead the team and failed numerous times.