When Will Deshaun Watson Return? Should I Pickup Deshaun Watson For Fantasy Football?

Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson hasn’t played a regular-season game since the 2020 season.

The veteran quarterback sat out the entire 2021 season after he refused to play for the Houston Texans. More importantly, the superstar ultimately faced 26 allegations of sexual assault. The allegations made trading Watson impossible, which helped led to him sitting out the 2021 season.

However, the Texans traded their former franchise quarterback to the Browns in the offseason. While the trade solved part of the problem, Watson still faced all the sexual assault allegations.

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When Will Deshaun Watson Return?

Ultimately, the NFL suspended the quarterback for the first 11 games of the year and fined him $5 million. Watson will make his season debut in Week 13 against the Texans in Houston.

While he won’t be allowed to play until Week 13, the veteran returned to the team’s facility after their Week 6 matchup against the New England Patriots.

The next step in Watson’s return comes on November 14. That is when he will be allowed to practice with the team following their Week 10 matchup against the Miami Dolphins.

Should I Pickup Deshaun Watson For Fantasy Football?

Watson still has four weeks to go before he can play. Yet, the veteran quarterback is currently a trendy waiver wire add.

Fantasy players should grab Watson off waivers this week, assuming you have a bench spot to hold onto him for the next month.

The last time he stepped on the field, the former first-round pick was the QB5, averaging 23.1 fantasy points per game. Furthermore, Watson finished as a top-five quarterback in 2020, 2019, and 2018. He was also the QB1 on a points-per-game basis as a rookie.

His first two matchups are during the last two weeks of the fantasy football regular season. In Week 13, he faces the Texans, who have held quarterbacks to the third-fewest fantasy points per game this season (11.1). Then he takes on the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 14. They have held quarterbacks to only 12.6 fantasy points per game, the fifth-fewest in the NFL.

However, Watson’s fantasy playoff schedule is very appealing. He faces the Baltimore Ravens (18.8 fantasy points per game, the eighth-most), the New Orleans Saints (16.4, 15th-most), and the Washington Commanders (17.2, 12th-most).

If he can play like he did from 2018-2020, Watson is a potential league winner. Now is the time to add the superstar quarterback off the waiver wire.

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