From a trip to the Bahamas to a gift for the teammate who let him wear No. 4, Deshaun Watson has made plenty of good impressions so far among his new teammates.
Watson, the three-time Pro Bowl QB whom the Browns acquired from the Texans in March, has been in Cleveland as a full participant of the offseason program and has made the most of his time to build chemistry. He paid for a trip with several offensive teammates last weekend for a vacation to the Bahamas and gifted LB Anthony Walker Jr., who switched from No. 4 to No. 5 this offseason so Watson could keep his jersey number, a watch in the middle of Walker's interview Wednesday with the media.
"He's a great guy to be around," Nick Chubb said. "We all love him. He's a very natural leader. He has been since OTAs have started. He took us all on a trip. I think those things kind of bring in trust and bonding for our team."
Center Nick Harris was one of the players who joined the crew in the Bahamas. In addition to enjoying time at the beach, Harris said the group did walkthroughs and took in even more reps that have helped the offense come together.
"We all bonded," Harris said. "The walkthroughs we did were productive. Everybody was there and on-point, locked in and getting the reps in. It was a fun time."
The Browns have completed three days of Offseason TeamActivities, thus giving Watson his first chance to build on-field chemistry with teammates in Cleveland.OTA workouts are meant to be light, but the Browns will be using them to digest the best ways for them to mold the offense around Watson's mobile and strong-armed skills.
Each rep, though, brings Watson one small step closer to learning the tendencies and talents of each of his offensive teammates.
"I think all of that work matters," coach Kevin Stefanski said. "I think the work that they do in this building together and the work they do outside the building, it all adds up. You have heard me say it before, it is added reps, so he's doing a nice job."
Walker, who played six games against Watson when Walker spent his first four NFL seasons with the Colts, is happy to now be on the same team as him. Gifts aside, he knows Watson's competitive nature will help make the Browns better, and his eagerness to build connections with everyone on the team will certainly accelerate that process, too.
"Going against a competitor, a guy that loves the game of football, an elite playmaker, an elite quarterback, it's going to be a lot of trash talk during OTAs, during minicamp and also during training camp," Walker said. "At the end of the day, we are working towards a common goal, and that is being Super Bowl champs at the end of the year. We are going to push each other to get there."
