There aren’t many things that surprise Cleveland Browns fans after many years of disappointment and turmoil. However, the possibility of the team’s underperforming starting quarterback having an anonymous X (Twitter) account that he uses to defend himself is not something anyone would have expected.
The Twitter account under the name Leroy Bickerstaff appeared earlier this week after Cleveland’s loss to the Dallas Cowboys. The Browns looked far below expectations in the opener and Watson had a subpar performance. Cleveland was without both starting offensive tackles, making the matchup against Micah Parsons even more difficult.
Watson struggled significantly all afternoon, finishing 24-of-45 with just 169 passing yards. He would also throw a single touchdown and two interceptions in the 33-17 loss. The offensive line struggles were apparent at times with Parsons being a constant disruptor. Despite this, Watson had receivers getting separated and failed to connect with any sort of consistency. There was zero success when attempting to push the ball downfield. Watson was hit 17 times and took six sacks. Those can be attributed to both the offensive line’s issues and Watson’s knack for holding onto the ball far too long.
The Leroy Bickerstaff Account
The Leroy Bickerstaff account is stated to have been created in September, likely meaning it was made directly after the Dallas game. The user has tweeted or replied 19 times in about a two-day span, each one defending Watson in various ways. The main points expressed by the account have been complaints about offensive line play, coaching, and play calling. The user also pointed to the off-field life events Watson dealt with last week. Watson’s biological father and a former teammate both passed away during the week. Those losses absolutely would have affected him and anyone else in that situation. However, the struggles of Watson’s play have been an issue in almost each of his games as a Cleveland Brown.
The account now has 5.9k followers and is following zero users itself, another sign of it being a “burner” account. The timing of the account is odd, leading to the belief it could be Watson. It is also entirely possible that is a Deshaun Watson fan who wishes to remain anonymous on the internet. Regardless, it is strange. The allegations and play of Watson in recent years are both majorly disappointing. Defending him with an account solely devoted to that purpose is a peculiar action.
What If It Is Deshaun Watson?
The Leroy Bickerstaff account actually being Watson would mean a few alarming things. It would firstly be concerning that he is publicly speaking negatively of coaches and teammates even with anonymity. A quarterback needs to be a leader in order for a team to succeed. Football is the ultimate team sport. Your team’s leader thinking these things and then publicly expressing them would be incredibly concerning.
Another worry if it was Watson is that it would mean he is being significantly affected by the public widespread criticism. A quarterback has to be able to block out the noise or use it effectively as a motivator. Replying to tweets defending yourself and blaming others after a bad loss would be a huge sign of insecurity and a lack of control.
What Does Watson Have To Do Now?
Watson needs to improve his on-field play. His off-field allegations will not win over any fans regardless of his stats. His contract is impossible to get rid of without taking a record-breaking cap hit. The Browns’ plan to deal with it has seemingly been to continue putting it off for years until the salary cap raises significantly and they could extend Watson to make the money less of a hindrance. His absolute lack of success currently is making an extension impossible. An injury-prone quarterback who doesn’t perform up to standard when actually on the field is not someone you can keep long-term. Getting rid of him will put Cleveland in a terrible position finance-wise whenever they actually would do so in the future.
The off-field issues also seem to just keep coming. The new allegations that the NFL is now reportedly investigating are concerning to anyone who has read them. The team traded for Watson expecting his in-game production to outweigh the concerns of the numerous allegations. Neither of those two things has gone the way the front office had envisioned. The football side of it almost seemed like it would possibly work out. The off-field side was never something anyone in the organization should have been alright with. They either thought he was innocent despite the growing list of concerns or thought his talent was enough to make up for it. Both of those are proving to be consistent problems thus far.
The post An Analysis of Leroy Bickerstaff appeared first on Cleveland Sports Talk.