The biggest takeaway from the 2023 season for the Cleveland Browns is the anticipation for the 2024 season. Specifically, quarterback Deshaun Watson’s role in it.

The $230 million quarterback has been plagued by injuries and suspensions since Houston traded him to Cleveland, for a shopping cart full of draft picks, on March 21, 2022. Since then, Watson has only appeared in 12 of the 35 games the Browns have played.

That will change in 2024, assuming Watson can stay healthy for a full season. That did not happen in 2023, but the injury-riddled Browns were still able to find enough healthy bodies to win enough games to reach the playoffs for only the second time in 20 years.

The problem for Watson in 2023 were two separate right shoulder injuries. He missed virtually all of the Browns’ four games in October due to a right shoulder rotator cuff strain. He returned to play two games, then missed the Browns’ last nine games due to another right shoulder injury.

As the Browns prepare for the start of summer workouts, team officials are optimistic that Watson will be ready for it as a full participant.

“Deshaun’s progressing well,” said Browns Executive Vice President of Football Operations and general manager Andrew Berry. “He is doing everything in his power in terms of rehab. He is coming along well. We anticipate him being on a normal or potentially ahead-of-schedule time frame. I hesitate to say that because it still is early, but we are really pleased with this progress so far and certainly looking forward to getting him back when he comes in the spring.”

In 2023, the Browns won five of the six games Watson played. That included a 33-31 Cleveland win over the Ravens, in Baltimore, on November 12. That was probably the highlight and the lowlight of the Browns’ season. They beat Baltimore in Baltimore, but lost Watson in the process, with a fractured right shoulder that required season-ending surgery.

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“Every time it felt like he was taking a step, he got banged up or hurt,” said Browns guard Joe Bitonio. “He was 4-1 as a starter this year. With our defense, if they play to the level we know and expect them to play to, I feel very confident with Deshaun coming back and being our quarterback.

So does Berry. “We feel really good about the recovery,” Berry said of Watson. “There’s nothing that would suggest that there should be some type of limitation or anything like that moving forward.”

Having a healthy and productive Watson for the entire 2024 season would go a long way towards the Browns reaching the postseason for a second consecutive season, something they have not done since 1988-89.

“The main core of guys is going to be back and I think those guys carry on the culture,” Bitonio said. “I think we learned what it takes to be resilient.”

In the 2023 season, Cleveland had to overcome a year-long battle with injuries to numerous key players. It seems hard to imagine, and a run of incredibly bad luck, that the Browns would have to go through that same exercise for a second consecutive year.

“Hopefully we don’t have to go through anything like that again,” Bitonio said. “We had 11 wins, we made the playoffs, and hopefully that’s our floor now – a playoff team that has a chance to win a division and host a playoff game in the future.”

As with all teams, however, the success of the season frequently depends on what kind of a season the quarterback has. The 2023 season will be Watson’s third season with Cleveland. The Browns hope it will be his first season with the Browns in which he plays every game.

If not, it is Berry’s job to be prepared with a backup quarterback good enough to prevent the Browns’ season from disintegrating. Browns fans would love to see a second chapter of the Joe Flacco story. But there are a lot of moving parts that would have to fall into place for that to happen.

Flacco presumably opened plenty of eyes among personnel decision makers on other teams with his inspiring play during the last six games of the Browns 2023 season. Could that result in Flacco getting a chance to be a starting quarterback again with a different team? Or would he be content to stay in Cleveland as the backup to Watson?

“I think it’s fair to say that we’ll have three quarterbacks on the roster,” said Berry of the plan going forward for next season. “What that looks like can be a little bit variable just based on how the marketplace bears out.”

It also will depend on how Watson’s health holds out.