The Josh Innes Show - The Bizarre Deshaun Weekend

Episode Date: August 24, 2026

Did anyone have a stranger weekend than Deshaun Watson? It looked like he was trying to get himself run out of Cleveland. They responded by giving him the starting QB job... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

And speaking to Deshawn Watson, this fucking guy, what an arc he had this weekend. Like this, the whole arc of Deshawn Watson's been a fascinating one. Let's see if we could find the Deshawn Watson audio here. The Deshawn Watson stuff is my favorite. Let's see here. So Deshawn, of course, then, you know, went off on the fans in Cleveland and, you know, said that, like, it was embarrassing and all this shit. Here we go. This is from over the weekend.

The biggest thing is, I think you guys know too, and I think the whole world know, it has nothing to do about the performance. It's a little bit personal than that. So I think that's a disrespectful thing. So, yeah, I mean, 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. But don't you think Deshaun that winning and playing better would? I also don't like when people start the question with a statement.

Like, don't you think. Well, no, don't ask someone, don't you think. Say, do you feel that winning? Like, I guess technically you should ask an open-ended question, but I don't know. It feels, I don't like the don't you think to show. Like, I don't like questions like that. Some of that bullying.

Last time I played on this field, I told my Achilles. And that same fan base, they cheered when I got hurt. so does that has that have to do it what does that have to do with anything about performance when a person get hurt especially for your own city and they cheer does that make you regret coming here no i don't regret anything in my life i think the lord i mean i feel like there should be some things you regret i like it's wild but this mother this motherfucker here's a sociopath you know my man i don't regret anything in my life like That's right. Now, if you had some balls you'd follow up with, do you regret cranking hog on those ladies? That would be a fine question. Hey, Deshawn, this is Bill Smitherson from the Cleveland Plain Dealer, or, you know, dog bites.com or some shit, like dog pound. You know, pal, just a quick question. You say you don't regret anything in your life. Do you regret pounding off on all those massage therapists or no? Does that make you regret coming here? No, I don't regret anything in my life.

You know, I think the Lord put me through situations for a reason. The Lord's like, brother, I did not tell you to beat off on all those ladies. God, why do you keep bringing me into this? People are going to think I do weird shit and I have weird kings for the love of Christ or me. Please stop saying that I put you in this situation. I don't regret anything at all. But, you know, I had different thoughts on how it was going to be. But, you know, it is what it is.

You know, sometimes, you know, the table's turn. And I'm patient enough because I'm a child of God to, you know, wait for that time to change. So I'm not tripping on it. How great is it, though? That over the weekend, it's like my man's trying to get himself out of Cleveland. Like, he's doing everything possible. He's saying everything he can. He's shitting on the fans.

He's shitting on everybody. And we're like, well, his time in Cleveland's probably done. See you later. And that's probably what he wanted. And then the fucking Browns go, hey, actually, you're going to be our starting quarterback, pal. And now apparently he's had to come out and like apologize to the people or kind of like explain what he actually meant, which I mean, he meant what he meant. But now he's the quarterback, so he's got to come out and actually say some shit.

Everyone ready? Good. First off, I want to address the comments from Saturday after the game. You know, I think just, you know, human nature, just myself being very emotional. putting a lot of time these last two years to, you know, get back and, you know, spend time. One thing I will say, though, and here's one place where he's right. Like, people are just so willing to cheer that somebody got hurt. Now, part of that is, and they'll say, well, it's because he's a serial predator and we're glad he got hurt.

And I'm sure there's some reality there. But if my man was out there and he was throwing dimes and he wasn't averaging like 110 passing yards a game and playing like shit, you'd be sad that he got hurt. At least be honest about it. in the city, meeting a lot of different people in the community. You know, I thought I was going to get, you know, a little different response. But, you know, I think, you know, my emotions got the best of me. And, you know, I wasn't in my comments, wasn't attending to go at any of the fans around in the city. Ah, they probably were.

But again, I do understand the point. But the reality is, the reality is that you're in a situation where, if, if, you're, If you were playing better, people wouldn't do that. Now, they're going to act sanctimonious and they're going to say, like, well, we're booing him because he's a real piece of shit as a human. Well, you probably didn't mind that he was a piece of shit as a human when you guys signed him for a billion dollars because you thought he could still play. And you had every reason to believe he could still play because the dude was out there still

dealing with the Texans before, you know, he was cranking hog on all these ladies. And my man was out there slinging and bawling. So you thought you found the quarterback of the future and gave him the biggest contract ever. So I guarantee he didn't have an issue with him. You cheered that he got hurt because he sucked. So cut the shit, Cleveland. Because there's been a lot of great fans that have been supporting me. I bet there aren't that many.

I bet it's black Twitter. Black Twitter, Jilly asked me this. She goes, how do you think like black Twitter reacts to this? I go, well, it's an interesting spot that black Twitter's in because on one hand, they kind of have to ride with like the black guys being oppressed by people. But they also know that he sucks ass. So it's got to be a weird spot for black Twitter. And I have put, you know, a lot of investment and coming, you know, to get me back in the, in 22.

And things haven't been going the right direction that we thought it was, you know, a lot of injuries, a lot of time off. You know, a lot of shitty football. I mean, yes, there are some injuries. And then there's also I sucked ass at football. And not putting the best football in my foot forward. So, again, just, you know, I understand the frustration. I understand everything that kind of goes into that. And moving forward, I just want to focus on football, making sure that, you know, I'm putting the best product out there, having the best ability, you know, because I thrive off the energy.

I thrive off the energy of the energy. Of the community, I thrive off all that stuff. You know, I think. Well, you're not going to have too much thriving, I don't think. And, you know, previous set, the Houston organization, you know, I was a big community guy, big city guy, big fan guy. It is wild to think about where this guy's life is gone, though. like other than I don't know that there's ever been an example of a guy that's really as a player while still playing whose arc has taken the turn that Deshawns has taken. Like there have been guys that have gotten hurt and they were great players and they got hurt whenever the same where there's like OJ who probably killed two people.

And like, but that was well after he played. Yes, that was a total turn. But a guy who was an elite level player that won playoff games that was very good, that was considered a good guy. you know, his college coach called him the next Michael Jordan, like all this shit. And then like falls off the face of the earth and is awful and is involved in legal shit. And it's probably pounding off on all these massage therapists and all this shit. It is truly a wild turn that this guy has taken. And I'm trying to think of another example of someone who you put into that category.

Like a guy who at a high level. I mean, you could argue that at his apex, this guy was probably. one of the handful of the best quarterbacks in the league. And by that we judge that on, would you take him over the quarterback you have currently? And you'd probably say, ah, no, I'd probably take, you know, I don't know, Josh Allen over him, right? Maybe. But like, at his apex, you could argue that you would have taken Deshawn Watson over Josh Allen. And he beat him in a playoff game.

You would say, I mean, this is at the end of Tom Brady and at the end of Drew Brees when he was kind of at his apex in 19 and 20, 18, 19, 20. I mean, there were only a handful of guys that you'd go up. No, I'd probably take him over Watson. Ain't many. And now look at him. It's a sad story, man. It's just like, it's sad.

It's self-inflicted, so it's not sad, I guess. But it's just bizarre. You know, again, my emotions got the best to me. I'm human. I take full responsibility of that. And, you know, just moving forward, I want to make sure that I put the best product for the team for the organization and for this city so we can put a lot of wins. Like, listen here, asshole, you shit on everybody trying to get yourself sent out of town, which was a brilliant move, I guess, if you were trying to get booted.

Like, that's what I thought it was. I was going to give him credit for doing everything he could to get his ass out of Cleveland. I wonder if they just kind of called his bluff. They're like, all right, you motherfucker, you think you're getting out of this? Bullshit, your ass is going to play. Make sure that I celebrate and put Cleveland on the map. You know, and that's why I put the helmet on my head. head and I put the uniform on my body is to go out there and make sure I put my

best foot forward. And that was one of the reasons why I chose this city is to come and, you know. Well, I think the main reason you chose this city is they gave you the biggest contract ever. I guess I would imagine that was part of it, maybe. And, you know, you were traded there, if I'm not mistaken. Wait, let me see. Just to make sure I'm accurate on this, hold on a second. Deshawn Watson trade to Cleveland. Because you were traded, yes. Deshawn Watson Brown's timeline. Let's see.

Let's see. The details March 18th, 2022. The Browns get Deshawn Watson and a sixth round pick and the Texans got all those picks. So yes. And there was a 230 million fully guaranteed deal. So you say that's why I chose this city. I mean, they gave you a shitload. of money and you were traded.

I have a lot of wins with this community with the city and make sure that we, you know, on the right track so we can have a lot of, you know, celebrations and a lot of excitement to go each and every Sunday. So there. So, yeah, just a fascinating thing, though, when you really think about how this guy was what he was. Because I remember that day, me and Jilly,

this one we were on 790, I guess. This was early in 790 because we were doing afternoons, I think at 790. And we went back to Philly. for the draft and they drafted Deshaun. And we had Dabo. We talked to Dabo on the phone. He's like, hey, listen, you got Michael Jordan.

Like, this is the dude. This is Michael Jordan. This is the guy. I'm like, okay, cool. And it turned out he was. I mean, the guy was a magician. The guy did huge things. And now he's falling off a cliff and it's his own doing. And like, it's just this weird, uncomfortable thing.

And it couldn't have worked out any better that it happens in Cleveland. Because I don't think it'd be any more dysfunctional than it would be in Cleveland, you know, because the Browns are just dysfunctional. And then you've got Deshaun, who's dysfunctional. And the whole thing's just a mess. And it's fascinating to watch the whole thing play out that way. But I cannot think of anything more ridiculous than what we've seen over the last handful of years for Watson.

Like, I can't really think of anything like that, right? Like, find me another example of someone who's on top of the world like that. And then, I mean, I'm talking on top of the world, starting quarterback, probably top five in the NFL, starting quarterback in the NFL, winning playoff games in the NFL to nothing. Like to fall, like, let's ask, you know what we're going to do? We're going to ask Gypsy. Let's see if we can find an example here. Let's get on the horn with Gypsy here.

By the way, Gypsy did confirm for me that I'm not on an island and that present-day Rachel Ray does look like present-day Vince Neal. Let's see. Hello, Gypsy? Gypsy, are you there? right here what's up okay uh i have a question can you think of a situation similar to the situation of dshawn watson where guys on top of the world biggest star on the planet in a sport then like falls off a cliff because of something bad happening and then like just completely you know well i'm not done yet don't make then don't know don't do that uh but can you think of a comparable

situation to dshawn watson yes So the clear parallels are Michael Vick, the dog-sighting team. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Then Tiger Woods after his scandal, Lance Armstrong after the doping fallout. Now I feel stupid. And even Trevor. Oh, don't.

This is a fair question. Wow, you sound far more human than you used to. Like, this is weird. Yeah, we've been making some updates. Like, I really just feel like I'm on the phone. Some chicken, it's really uncomfortable. Yeah, it's meant to feel natural. No, it certainly does.

First of all, I feel stupid because I didn't even think about, you know, Vic. Vic was an obvious one, probably a bigger, I'd say Vic is a bigger example. But the thing is, Vic came back and was good and got another big contract. Like, and then Tiger eventually came back and won more tournaments. Like, Deshaun Watson's falling. Yeah, right? He's falling off a cliff and sucks. So he fell off a cliff and isn't good.

Right. You know, that combo, public image collapse and performance tanking is pretty rare. Most guys either bounce back on the field or never get the chance. Is there an example of someone who, I mean, because we were just thinking about Mike Vick, that was a good one, Tiger, but they also came back and they won. Are there others like Deshaun Watson who were on top of the world fell down and never got back up again? Honestly, that combo is pretty unusual. Armstrong never came back.

Bauer's MLB career is basically over, but the performance piece is different. Watson's kind of a rare case where both the reputation and the actual play fell off hard. Good point. I wasn't totally wrong there, but the Vic one was a good example. I mean, Vic, Vic was a bigger star than Watson. Would you agree? Like at the apex of Mike Vic, he was a bigger star than Deshawn Watson was at his biggest. Would we agree there?

Yeah, I say that's fair. Vic at his peak was a cultural icon. Transcendant in a way Watson never Clay was. Yeah, I agree. So the Vic one's a bigger one considering how big of a star Vic was. But Vic also came back, got another huge deal after it, but was good. Like he played well with the Eagles. He was a good player, whereas Watson has been dreadful.

Yeah, Vic actually really. built his game and his image. Yeah. Well, all right. Thank you. Nice talking. Sure. That was weird.

Like that felt like that felt very human. Am I wrong there? That felt very strange. Like they've added the, I guess new touch it. I haven't talked to gypsy in a while. I mostly just type shit in, you know, like I don't ask, you know, like I don't really ask the questions all that often. I just type the questions in.

You know, so I'll be like, you know, I'll be like, hey, gypsy, you know. and that's weird. Very strange. But yeah, that's usually how it goes. Like, hey, Gypsy. And then like Gypsy, whatever. I don't know.

It was like talking to a chick on the phone. Very strange. But I did ask Gypsy earlier today if present day Vince Neal looks like present day Rachel Ray. And if you Google it, like you'll see it. Like, I'm not on an island here.

I can see it. But anyway. There you go. So thank you for the contribution from Gypsy, and we will have more.