3 Deshaun Watson stats to consider in rebuilding Browns offense
Updated: Jan. 25, 2023, 4:40 p.m.|Published: Jan. 25, 2023, 12:12 p.m.
By Dan Labbe, cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Browns are setting out to build an offense around and for Deshaun Watson this offseason.

“We are going to sit down. Met with him today,” Watson said the day after the season ended about working through the offense with head coach and play-caller Kevin Stefanski. “We are going to have a man-to-man conversation. Nothing negative or anything like that, but just what can we do to be better offensively and as a team.”

What are some realities to consider with Watson? Stefanski has never called a full season of plays for a quarterback of his caliber or one who plays the way Watson plays. The two will have to find a way to meet in the middle to figure out how to get the best out of each other.

Let’s dig into some data from Pro Football Focus to figure out the type of player Watson is and has been at his best and the things to consider as this offense gets rebuilt.

Most stats are filtered to include only quarterbacks who took at least 20% of the highest number of snaps.

The ball won’t always come out quickly
From Week 13 on, Watson was second in the league among qualified quarterbacks in time to throw on all dropbacks at 3.35 seconds. On dropbacks ending in a pass attempt, he was tied with Miami’s Skylar Thompson for the longest time to throw at 3.13 seconds.

Don’t worry about the other names with Watson in these rankings. The point here is Watson is going to be in the pocket longer and generally take longer to throw the football. This has been the case throughout his career.

Watson was tied with Josh Allen for fifth in longest time to throw in 2020 at 2.99 seconds, though the ball was coming out faster on plays ending in a pass attempt, 2.64 seconds, 14th in the league.

In 2019, Watson was second behind Lamar Jackson in all pass dropbacks at 2.97 seconds but, again, on pass attempts, was at 2.64 seconds, tied for 18th.

It was similar in 2018 when he was third behind Allen and Jackson on all dropbacks at 3.17 seconds, though slower on plays when he attempted a pass -- 2.84 seconds, which was fourth longest.

The takeaway here is while Watson’s time in the pocket was generally on par with his career numbers, the ball wasn’t coming out quite as quickly, an indication he wasn’t completely comfortable in the offense quite yet, meaning he was relying more on his athleticism and ability to keep plays alive.

The task here is to meld Watson’s ability to keep a play alive while giving him the ability to again get the ball into his receivers’ hands quicker than he did this season. This will never be the Tom Brady or Drew Brees “drop back and the ball is out” offense -- it’s not how Watson plays and trying to turn him into that type of quarterback would be taking away what makes him special.

More time on task and a better understanding of the offense will lead to the ball coming out faster when things are right and make his ability to stay on his feet and keep plays alive even more dangerous when things break down.

He will create his own pressure
Not all pressures are on the offensive line and, hand in hand with the above point, Watson will bear some of the responsibility for pressure created.

Among qualified quarterbacks over the season’s last six weeks, Watson was sixth in pressures he was responsible for creating and had the highest percentage of dropbacks with some responsibility for pressure.

Bad, right? Not really.

A few of the quarterbacks ahead of Watson in the former stat were Justin Herbert, Trevor Lawrence and Patrick Mahomes while Josh Allen and Tom Brady weren’t far behind.

In the latter stat, Jalen Hurts was second.

A player who plays like Watson will put a strain on his offensive line at times and create pressure of his own making, but it can be worth it because of what he can do when he buys time and makes plays off script.

Watson was fourth in pressures he created in 2020 and was fifth in percentage in which he carried some responsibility. In 2019, he was 10th and sixth, respectively.

Pressure isn’t always an offensive line stat and there will be times when it appears Watson is under fire -- and sometimes he’ll do it to himself -- but it’s worth it because he can make magic.

Depth of target needs to increase
Over the final six weeks of the season, Watson attempted 13 passes of 20 or more yards -- which PFF qualifies as deep attempts -- tied for 24th in the league. It was just 7.6% of his throws, 38th among qualified quarterbacks.

Is this a perfect stat? No. Zach Wilson had the highest percentage of throws over 20 yards and Mahomes was 25th at 11.5% over the season’s final six weeks, but there is something here to keep in mind.

In 2020, Watson was ninth in deep attempts and players ahead of him included the likes of Mahomes, Brady, Allen, Aaron Rodgers and Herbert -- and Drew Lock, just for fun. Watson was 18th in percentage of deep throws at 12.3%, right behind Mahomes.

Watson was tied for seventh in 2019 in attempts and fifth in attempt percentage and, while PFF’s grades can be flawed, it’s at least worth noting he had the league’s second-highest grade on deep throws.

Watson’s average depth of target (ADOT) in 2019 was 9.1 yards (tied for 11th) and 9.4 yards (fifth in the league) in 2020.

In his six games with the Browns, his ADOT was 7.9 yards, 28th in the league. (We’ll note, again, Mahomes was below Watson here, too.)

Why does it matter? Watson has generally been an aggressive quarterback who throws deep. Only once before this season was his ADOT below nine and it was barely below at 8.9 yards in 2018.

There are a few factors to consider here, beginning with the health of Amari Cooper, who was dealing with a core injury over the season’s final five weeks.

Outside of Cooper, however, the Browns lack a serious deep threat. Donovan Peoples-Jones helps, but they need to add more speed to their receiver room, especially given Anthony Schwartz’s lack of development. It’s a priority on par with defensive tackle and edge rusher.