Deshaun Watson rips ‘disrespectful’ Browns fans booing as ‘personal’ in preseason return to Cleveland
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Deshaun Watson was met with a barrage of boos from Browns fans on Saturday.
“It has nothing to do about the performance. It’s a little bit more personal than that. So I think that’s a disrespectful thing,” Watson told reporters after the game, according to The Athletic. “I’m going to keep whatever I feel with me and my family internally on how I feel about that. And yeah, just move on.”
Fans booed Watson when he entered game for the third quarter of Cleveland’s 31-7 preseason loss to the Bills.
They continued to jeer when Watson’s first pass was incomplete, and again after the Browns went three-and-out during his second series.
“Last time I played on this field, I tore my Achilles. And that same fan base, they cheered when I got hurt,” Watson added.
Watson, who is currently competing with Shedeur Sanders to be the Browns’ QB1 this season, relieved the second-year quarterback on Saturday after he started last week’s game.
When asked earlier in the week about being booed, Watson told reporters he doesn’t care and that “nobody says anything” to him in public.
Watson finished 5-of-12 for 36 yards with an interception during Saturday’s game.
“I don’t regret anything in my life. I think the Lord put me through situations for a reason. I don’t regret anything at all,” Watson said. “I had different thoughts on how it was going to be, but it is what it is.
“Sometimes the tables turn, and I’m patient enough because I’m a child of God to wait for that time to change. So I’m not tripping on it.”
Sanders, who finished Saturday’s game on 9-of-11 passing for 74 yards with a touchdown and interception, said that he doesn’t “respect” the fans booing Watson.
“I don’t really like overall whenever the whole stadium is booing and stuff when Deshaun gets in ’cause he’s going out there, he’s trying to put in work, too, just how we all are,” Sanders said to sideline reporter Aditi Kinkhabwala on the News 5 Cleveland broadcast.
“Just being a person, I don’t really like that, and I don’t really respect that,” he added.