Fantasy Football Draft Advice: Avoid Deshaun Watson (2023)

Fantasy managers are always in search of sleepers and breakthrough players. The players that can put them over the top and win them their fantasy championships.

Equally important is the opposite end of the fantasy spectrum. The players to avoid. These players will underperform and sink your fantasy title dreams. Conversely, avoiding these pitfalls is a recipe for your fantasy fortunes.

Quarterbacks to Avoid in 2023: Deshaun Watson

Here are four quarterbacks that fantasy managers should avoid for the 2023 fantasy football season.

Deshaun Watson (QB – CLE)

Some fantasy managers were hoping to see Deshaun Watson from his Houston Texans days in the first season with the Cleveland Browns. But, unfortunately, that fantasy darling is long gone. The current version of Watson looks and plays a little differently, and his downgrade curtailed fantasy managers who hoped they found a top quarterback at the back end of their fantasy drafts last season. Before his six-game season, Watson had not played NFL football in almost two years.

Watson produced 1,102 passing yards with seven touchdowns and five interceptions while leading the Browns to a 3-3 record. He made improvements, but the Browns’ offense under head coach Kevin Stefanski does not lead to as many improvized plays as he provided us in Houston. The Browns’ offense relies on their running game, with Nick Chubb behind one of the better offensive lines in the league. Stefanski will sprinkle in wide receivers Amari Cooper and Donovan Peoples-Jones along with tight end David Njoku, but the offense is predicated on a potent running game. The Browns gave up a ton to acquire Watson (too much) and need to continue to develop more surrounding talent. The structure of the offense lends itself to the quarterback being more of a game manager, not an improvising playmaker. In Houston, Watson was the Texans’ offense and was forced to make some dazzling plays. Those plays will not be plentiful in Cleveland, which should deter fantasy managers from selecting Watson as their QB1 next season.