As the Cleveland Browns march to the Pacific Northwest for their preseason finale against the Seattle Seahawks, Browns fans have been waiting eagerly for an answer to a burning question. And what’s that? Well, it looks like they needed an answer to whether they are gonna see Deshaun Watson for one last time before the season starts or not. But, it looks like we already have the answer to it.

As per Adam Schefter’s X post of 24th August, “Browns ruled out QB Deshaun Watson for tonight’s preseason finale vs the Seahawks.” It looks like fans won’t see Watson against Seattle on Saturday. But why isn’t he playing? Well, Deshaun came back from a shoulder bone surgery, and the QB was a ‘little sore‘, per Browns’ HC on 21st August.

Initially, Stefanski didn’t wanna say a ‘No‘ on being questioned about Watson’s return to the preseason finale. And that’s evident from May Kay Cabot’s X post, “#Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said all of his starters should expect to play, but he’ll make a final determination later in the week if Deshaun Watson will face the #Seahawks 12.” Well, Kevin also emphasized that the starter “should expect” to see the field Saturday. He further reiterated, “In particular with Deshaun, I want to take in all the information this week and really make a final determination later in the week.” It seems like the Browns’ HC has been preparing his starters to play on Saturday against Seattle. Moreover, Stefanski was not “overly concerned” about Watson’s ‘general arm soreness’. 

But, after the last practice session, the coach seemed to use the wait-and-see approach to see whether his QB would be playable for Saturday’s game or not, “I decided to hold back a little bit with him, but not overly concerned,” Stefanski said. “He could have gone. He’s feeling fine.” And Deshaun Watson has already been quite impressive in his practice sessions as he took reps both 11 on 11 and 7 on 7 drills. Nevertheless, Watson is expected to play against the Dallas Cowboys in the season’s opener, per Adam Schefter.

Now, with Watson out of the preseason game, who are the other Browns’ stars expected to play against Seattle?

Browns’ stars prepare for a showdown against Seattle without Watson

Well, the first name is Jerry Jeudy. Although Jeudy missed the early training camp at The Greenbrier before he came back to the team drills, his final play in practice was an absolute shocker. Earlier this month Jeudy caught a deep pass from QB Watson in the end zone for a TD and has excelled in receiving another pass over the middle in 7-on-7 drills. Jeudy “made some plays, ran a real nice choice route early in practice, ran that vertical play at the end of practice,” per Stefanski. And who’s next?

It’s Cooper, who left practice on 15th August and finally returned to practice on Wednesday. In addition, Elijah Moore was also back to Wednesday’s practice after he suffered from a concussion during the first week of the Browns’ training camp. But it looks like Cooper, Jeudy, and Moore have not played a game together. Thus, the Browns will have a unique set to utilize in the passing game. Stefanski elaborated, “So, a lot of it is the quarterback just building a book on all of his players and understanding the nuance of each one of those guys“. Furthermore, D’Onta Foreman can also be seen against the Seahawks. He got his first Browns uniform during last week’s game against the Vikings.

Will the Cleveland Browns be able to outperform the Seahawks in their final preseason game?