Deshaun Watson is only the second quarterback for whom the Browns paid dearly in terms of high NFL Draft picks to acquire.
The first was a guy nearly four decades ago named Bernie Kosar. Perhaps you’ve heard of him.
Sunday will mark the 39th anniversary of Kosar’s regular-season debut. It was Oct. 6, 1985 when the Youngstown Boardman High School and Miami of Fla. product came in for injured starter Gary Danielson in a Sunday afternoon game against the New England Patriots at Cleveland Stadium.
Then just a 21-year-old rookie, for whom the Browns gave up the top half of their drafts in 1985 and ‘86 to the Buffalo Bills to get the rights to select him in the 1985 NFL Supplemental Draft, Kosar trotted onto the field and joined the offensive huddle during a TV timeout in the second quarter. The 10 other players, all veterans, were chattering about the loss of Danielson and what it might mean to the team. No one said a word to him as he stood there for a couple moments surveying the scene. Gathering his nerve, he finally screamed, “Shut up!!!,” loudly enough for some of boats on Lake Erie to hear him. He had his teammates’ immediate attention then.
Pro Football Hall of Fame tight end end Ozzie Newsome would later say, “That he had the courage at that age, and without ever having played a down in the NFL at that point, to yell at a bunch of veterans, told me right then and there that this kid was going to be special.”
And, of course, Newsome was right on point, for Kosar was exacyly that, and then some. He was the boss of the offense and thus the huddle, and he was not shy about letting that be known.
As an aside, for those of you keeping score at home, Newsome came to the Browns in the 1978 draft with a pick — in the first round, at No. 23 overall — they acquired when they traded Mike Phipps, another quarterback the club paid through the nose to get (in the 1970 draft), to the Chicago Bears in a 1977 trade. But all that is another story for another time.
Other than this being the anniversary of Kosar’s debut, why bring this up now?
Because it’s a defense — and deservedly, so — for what Watson did on the sidelines last Sunday during the 20-16 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders. When right tackle Dawand Jones did an “ola” block that allowed his man to get past him and deliver a crushing hit to Watson, the quarterback screamed at him in an animated fashion that was caught by the CBS TV cameras.
Watson had every right in the world to take Jones to task and should be heartily applauded for doing so. Watson is the leader of the offense, and was acting as such. Good for him!!
Indeed, when Deshaun Watson does something right, we have the responsibility to point it out on account of fairness.
Steve King
