QB Deshaun Watson (6.11.24)

How do you feel about where you’re at right now? You were throwing in 7-on-7 today, do you feel like you’re right where you need to be in terms of the timetable you’ve been given by the medical staff?

“Most definitely. Just following the protocol, the process, the whole throwing program. Everything’s been going pretty smooth. Taking it one day at a time, not trying to get ahead of myself. And I think I’m in the right position and I feel very comfortable.”

Where do you say your velocity is? 80% or what?

“I don’t know.”

Deshaun, Amari (Cooper) is not here. We obviously saw him at the softball game on Saturday. So, what are your thoughts on Amari not being here?

“Nothing, Amari is our brother, our teammate, we support him, and the decisions that he got to make for himself is on Amari. But everyone in this locker room respects him and knows exactly what he’s about. And whenever he gets back, he’s going to be ready to go.”

Will you get any throwing with him away from here? I mean, if he’s in town will you toss the ball around?

“Oh, for sure. Yeah, me and Amari, we talk all the time. We go on different vacations together, things like that. So, you know, me and him are super with all the other receivers and guys too, so he’s always around us.”

Are you surprised at all that he’s not here? Feels like a real team guy. Are you surprised?

“Yeah. Like we said, like I said before, we all respect Coop and, you know, he’s got to handle what he got to handle, and nobody is looking any different on him. And like I said, we all support him. And he was here this weekend with us, and we had a good time.”

Where does he stack up with some of these guys like (Jaylen) Waddle and (Justin) Jefferson, who are signing new deals?

“He’s the best in the game, and I believe that. He shows it each and every year. He showed it the last two years with different quarterbacks. So, I think you got to put him up there, if not the best.”

Are you cleared to throw every day this week?

“I’m not even sure. I take it just one day at a time.”

What do you think you and Amari are capable of together this season in this new offense?

“There’s no limit. There’s no sky for us. We can be as good as we want to be, and that’s going to start with the work, it’s going to start with the attention to details and going out there and executing in each and every game.”

Now that you’ve gotten to get some reps out there in this new Ken Dorsey offense with the choice routes and play into some of your mobility strengths and things like that. What’s your take on what you guys are going to try and do this year?

“Yeah, there’s a lot of opportunities for each and every one of the guys that’s out there, all the skill guys, you know, even for myself, as a quarterback of this offense, in this system, I got to make the right decision to get the ball in the receiver’s hands and let them go to work. So, I’m excited about it, and we just got to continue to put in a lot of work before game one this weekend.”

Deshaun, when this week ends, what will your throwing program be for the next four or five weeks?

“I think that one is kind of more of on Dr. (Neal) ElAttrache and, Joe (Sheehan), Dr. (James)Voos, all the guys that’s going through my program each couple weeks, there’s a phase that we got to hit and checkpoints and we got to see by the end of this week.”

Deshaun have you had any pain in the shoulder since you started throwing?

“I’ve been feeling really well, yes, sir.”

And are you even more grateful about that when you maybe see or hear that somebody like Anthony Richardson had to dial it back? Cause he is having some pain in his shoulder? Does that make you feel better?

“No, I don’t compare myself or my shoulder injury to anyone else’s. You know, I know Ant (Anthony Richardson) and the people that he worked with. Cause I went down to Jacksonville with Tom and those guys for a little bit this offseason, and he’s going to be just fine. But, yeah, I don’t get into comparing shoulder injuries and things.”

Do you have plans to host a get-together before camp with teammates?

“Yeah, we’re going to spend as much time as we possibly can before the camp and even during camp for sure.”

Did you pick a location?

“I can’t tell you.”

You gave everybody a scare on Saturday, are your softball playing days over?

“No, Zaire (Mitchell-Paden) he told me a couple plays before any pop ups since he was like, ‘I don’t play baseball. You catch it.’ ‘All right, I got it.’ So, we got a pop up two plays later, and for some reason he comes underneath me and cut me off. But it’s all good. I was good.”

You need to have the red jersey.

“I know, right?”

Deshaun, how deep can you throw the ball now as you continue your progress?

“I’m not even sure. For real. I mean, whenever it happens, it happens.”

You seem to have cleared every physical hurdle. How difficult has it been mentally to make sure that you are in line, that you know, that you can do all of this?

“It just starts with yourself. I’m a self-confident person. I know the work that I put in. I know the doctors and everybody that’s been working with me, and that’s where it starts. When you get on the field, you just got to go out there and do it and participate a little bit and see what you can do right now, at this moment. I’m only six and a half months out. Game one is not until another two and a half, 90 something days. So, yeah, I’m in a very comfortable spot and like I said before, just taking it one day at a time and just keep going.”

So, did you get a tiny little bit of a scare when you came down? You know, sort of rolled down like that and landed on your shoulder?

“No ma’am, I was good.”

Have you ever been discouraged during this rehab process?

“No. No, sir.”

Kevin (Stefanski) talked about the mental reps and, you know, you talked about, you know, as you picked up this offense, can you expand a little bit more on just the value of those and what you’re getting watching from behind the play as Jameis (Winston) or Tyler (Huntley) is running it?

“Of course. I mean, you just get a different perspective of what you’re seeing. You know, sometimes playing the quarterback position, you don’t see everything. You don’t see the backside coverage or what defenders do, but when you take those mental reps, you can kind of see what everyone is doing on different coverages and different routes. It’s still not comparing to being out there and getting those physical routes. But at the same time, each and every time you’re not in, you have got to get those mental reps. Even if I’m capable of throwing seven on seven when the next group go in, I got to continue to stay locked in because sometimes you might not get those plays full speed and you got to make sure you’re prepared for whenever they do come.”

Kind of drilling off that. How good did it feel to go through some of those 7-on-7s today, which we hadn’t seen you do? And how valuable is that, given the changes to the offensive count?

“It was great, it’s truly a blessing. It came a long way from something that was a big scare last year, something I never dealt with and something that most football players don’t, especially as a quarterback, they don’t get to go through that type of surgery. But for me to be where I’m at today is definitely a blessing, more glory to that. And it was fun to be able to get out there and compete.”

You mentioned the protocol that doctors have you on. Has it already been determined whether you’ll play preseason?

“I have no idea. I think that’s a Kevin (Stefanski) AB (Andrew Berry) question.”

As far as Jerry Jeudy is concerned. He was inside today, and you really haven’t had that much opportunity to throw with him yet. So how much are you looking forward to when you can get (Jerry) Jeudy back out here, Amari’s back, and you can get the whole band back together and see what this is going to be?

“You know, all that is timing. You know, guys got to make sure they take care of different things. And, you know, Jeudy’s another guy who’s been here mentally and taking mental reps but making sure he’s taking care of his body too. And, you know, the staff know exactly what they need to do for him. And I just can’t wait until we all get together and we have a lot of reps during training camp and especially this off season, we all in the same area, so we’ll be good.”

Do you know if when you get the training camp, you’ll have any limitations?

“I have no idea. You know, like I said, there’s always checkpoints as we go through the process. And in the next month and a half, we got to continue to do those.”

The fans want to see you back so bad, sometimes they get a little overzealous. They see you throwing in minicamp, and they start picking that apart as if it’s game tape. What would you say to those people to help them keep perspective that this is a long process?

“I mean, it’s practice. You got to go through practice. Not everything’s perfect. Even in games it’s not perfect, but, you know, I don’t look at it in a negative way, I don’t look at it in a bad way. You know, each and every fan, each and every media person, they want to see me at a level that I’m capable of doing. So that’s the standard. So, I got to make sure I hold myself to it, so, it’s not a bad thing. It’s not anything like that. I don’t get involved with people trying to rate me places where they think I’m at the bottom of the list, you know, it is what it is. If I was at the bottom, no one would talk about me. So obviously, if anyone is talking about me, continue to talk about me, then I must be pretty damn good.”

Deshaun, along those lines. You know, as you put in this new offense, like, what kind of gives you the confidence that you can get to the level of play that you feel you’re capable of?

“All it is time, reps getting back. You know, I missed a lot of football, I took off one year in 2021, in 2022 I had a suspension, and then last year, unfortunately, injury. So, you know, that’s one thing that you can’t ask to get is that time. You know, you got to be available, and I wasn’t available the last two years for whatever circumstances, but, God willing, just take it in one day at a time, and I am available. Those reps will come, and I’ll continue to get better each and every rep.”

How beneficial has Jameis been to you? What’s the most beneficial thing that he’s been able to provide over these past couple weeks?

“I think it’s just knowledge, it’s just game, it’s just life experience. I think it’s just the confidence of knowing that we know our roles, pushing each other, competing, getting closer to the Lord. I think all those things about everything, not just for myself, but everyone in that quarterback room, from coaches to players. I think we are all on the same page, and it’s a great room to be in. And each and every day we come excited to work, to compete, and to push each other, and I think that’s what we got.”

What’s the next hurdle that you have that you as a player coming off this injury, feel you need to get over now?

“Just continue to get more live reps, 7-on-7 live reps, and then whenever training camp comes where we can go live in 11 on 11. Just taking it one step at a time.”

Cedric Tillman figures to get more reps with Amari (Cooper) out. What do you make of him in the second game?

“Till (Cedric Tillman), he’s been working. He’s been working really hard, and you can see it. He’s been improving. He’s knowing what he has got to do on each and every rep. He can play different positions, he can run all the routes, he can catch the big boy balls, you can toss it up to him, and he can catch the tough ones and the easy ones. So, I think he’s going to be a great addition for this offense, and he’s going to help us out.”

Deshaun, as you’ve gotten to know (Ken) Dorsey since he came to the team, what have you learned about him and what stands out just to how coaches you and the quarterback room as a whole?

“You can tell he understands. He played this position before. He’s been around a lot of good other quarterbacks, you know, Josh Allen, Cam Newton, and guys like that who’s played at the highest level, so he knows exactly what he want, and then he’s able to adjust the system to the skill set that we have here. And I think that he’s doing a heck of a job of putting the offense together with Kevin (Stefanski) and all the other staff members, doing stuff that we love to do and that we’re comfortable doing. He’s the knowledge of the game, and he wants to win. He wants to score a lot of points and compete. He has that chip on his shoulder just like all of us, and I think that’s the beauty of it.”

Why is his offense so suited to you, and why do you already sort of feel so comfortable in it and like it so much?

“You know, some familiarity to what I did in Houston a little bit, but I think just being able to toss the rock around the field and having guys in different positions is definitely something fun. And, you know, it’s definitely the way he’s coaching it and teaching it. He’s allowing us to be ourselves and go out there and play free.”

Deshaun, we obviously couldn’t pinpoint exactly when the injury maybe started or whatever last year, but there’s been a lot of talk just about like maybe ways that you can not take as many hits from what we saw last year. Maybe that was what we contributed to it, have you guys had conversations about maybe ways you can protect yourself a little bit better when you are out running with the football?

“No, I mean, I didn’t take any big hits. I mean, I ran up with the guy in Tennessee, popped back up, finished the game. So, I don’t think the hit situation is a problem. Of course, you know, I want to sustain, and play for longevity. But we just got to play football. I can’t play hesitant, I got to do what I got to do, and I got to understand that the hits I do take up do add up. So, you know, got to be smart about it.”

When you do take the team to wherever you’re going and you guys do your passing camp outside of here, will you have to still follow Dr. (Neal) ElAttrache’s strict protocol, or can you just kind of let it rip a little bit on that trip?

“Yeah, I think it’s the same way out here. You know, we have the load management of throws and which days we need to throw and things like that. So, you know, we’ll definitely map it out to where I can get all the reps that I need.”

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