NO APRIL FOOLS JOKE! THIS WATSON STUFF IS REALLY TRUE!

By STEVE KING

If you haven’t been spoofed yet, then you likely soon will.

After all, Friday is April Fools Day.

OK, Browns fans, what would you have thought if, a year ago, on April 1, 2021, someone had laid out the following prediction?

“The Browns will get into the derby trying to trade with the Houston Texans for quarterback Deshaun Watson. Though one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL, Watson will not play during the 2021 season as he battles his way through claims that he sexually assaulted a number of women. The Texans, after refusing at first to deal him, change course and decide to put him on the market in spring 2022 for the right return.

“The Browns are one of several clubs interested in him. Watson has a no-trade clause on his contract, so he has to first approve of the team before any trade is made. The Browns fly to Houston to woo him and his representatives and make a good impression, but he then eliminates them from consideration.

“But then, out of nowhere, Watson flips the script and picks Cleveland and a deal is consummated in which the Browns give up three first-round picks in the NFL Draft, plus a bunch of other choices, effectively booting Baker Mayfield, the presumed starter, according to team officials just weeks before, out the door, a little more than a year after he had led the Browns to the playoffs for the first time in 18 years.

“A good number of fans, including many females, are angry and disappointed at the Browns. Team officials say they understand that emotion, but added that, after much research and discussion, they’re confident in the trade and happy they made it.”

You would have then remembered that it’s April Fools Day and would have waited for the person to say with a laugh, “I had you going there for a while, didn’t I?”

But he or she wouldn’t have said that, because … it’s all true.

Think about all that for a moment.