NFL Trade Rumors: Insider expects Cleveland Browns to make a move for Deshaun Watson

It has been a crazy season for rumors in the NFL, and Deshaun Watson is in focus with lots of permutations and combinations that are being thrown about. Many teams need a quarterback, and Deshaun Watson's record on the field makes him a sought-after commodity.

Deshaun Watson has been linked to teams like the New Orleans Saints and the Carolina Panthers, but if recent reports are to be believed, coming from an NFL insider, the Cleveland Browns are expected to be his most likely destination.

Deshaun Watson fits mold of elite quarterback that the Browns are targeting

The Cleveland Browns have committed both publicly and privately to Baker Mayfield, but given his performances last season, it is understood that they are open to taking on a quarterback if someone elite becomes available. This applies to people like Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson, who were thought to be available earlier. But since then, Rodgers has recommitted to the Green Bay Packers, and Wilson has moved to the Denver Broncos.

That leaves Deshaun Watson as perhaps the only name that comes into the category that may convince the front office in Cleveland to move on from Baker Mayfield. The same was noted by NFL insider Jeremy Fowler, who said:

People who talked to the Browns at last week's NFL combine came away with the belief that only a big fish, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity could change that. The thinking at the time was Russell Wilson or Aaron Rodgers would fit that mold. But Watson would qualify as a pretty big fish, too. And Mayfield's reps understand this dynamic. So while Mayfield is still, from my view, the favorite to start for Cleveland in 2022, an aggressive pursuit of Watson wouldn't shock. Does Watson want to go to Cleveland? I don't get the sense the Browns would be super high on his list, but they have a few selling points, including a good head coach and players around him to win.

While the decision may drag on, generally, the opening of the Free Agency season, beginning Monday, acts as a reference point for the league to set their targets and start closing contract talks with the players they want. Deshaun Watson has spent an entire season on the bench at the Texans, and Baker Mayfield may yet return after his recovery from injury as a better player than ever before. Which way the Browns are leaning might be known sooner rather than later.