BEREA, Ohio — Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson returned to practice on Thursday after spending the week prior working exclusively indoors through a medical rehab process for his strained rotator cuff in his throwing shoulder. On Friday, Watson saw his workload increase as he ramped up the reps he took.
As the Browns held Friday's practice inside the field house, Watson was back with his team for the second day in a row. Wearing some kinesiology tape on his throwing shoulder, Watson wasn't using any other medical equipment for the injury.
Thursday's practice saw Watson take limited reps in the portion of practice open to media. He did some hand off drills with the running backs, worked on some shallow passing with his receivers, and took a few deeper passes as well. Several of Watson's passes were short and low on Thursday as he made his return to practice reps.
On Friday, however, Watson looked substantially more comfortable throwing the ball. Throughout the open portion of practice, Watson raised his arm high, something the team said during the bye week he had difficulty doing the first week of the injury.
Watson had some solid passes to wide receivers Amari Cooper, Elijah Moore, and Donovan Peoples-Jones. He was able to hit tight end David Njoku, Harrison Bryant, and Jordan Akins on a number of different routes.
From the eye test, Watson's passes seemed to have increased zip on them—an encouraging sign for him as he works to get back on the field for game action.
“Good. He's looking really good. So we're excited for Sunday," said tight end David Njoku.
The Browns have said for Watson to be cleared to play, they need him to be able to throw comfortably, with velocity and the ability to drive the ball.
"As soon as he feels well enough to be able to make all the throws on the field, that’s probably when he’ll be ready to go," said offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt Thursday before practice. "I’d hate to ask anybody to go out there limited, especially when you’re a quarterback and that’s your living is throwing the ball. So, he’s got to feel good about it. We have to also have to feel good about it. But I think we’re seeing him get better every day.”
Watson's progress was strong enough that the Browns listed him as questionable for Sunday's game against the Colts. The quarterback had a full day of work Friday, getting all of the reps with starters.
"Looked like himself. I mean only he knows what he's dealing with both mentally and physically at this point. I think he'll be able to overcome whatever hurdles that he’s facing," said defensive end Myles Garrett.
The Browns will monitor Watson and how he responds to Friday's workload over the next 24 hours before making more of a decision on his status for Sunday. It won't come down to a pre-game workout in Indy, however, head coach Kevin Stefanski said.
"We won't work him out. Just want to see how he responds, how his body responds to, again, a full workload today," Stefanski said.
And if he can't go, P.J. Walker will get the start.
"We trust our guys really at every position. Our backups stay ready so they don't have to get ready and P.J.'s proven to do that in his career. So he's ready if called upon," Stefanski said.
