Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson last played on Huntington Bank Field in October 2024. As the team fell to the Cincinnati Bengals, the veteran quarterback suffered a season-ending injury, and he was met with a chorus of boos from the home crowd as he was carted off the field.

Now, the Browns will host the Buffalo Bills for a preseason game at their home field, and Watson will face the same crowd that has publicly jeered him multiple times in the past. But the QB says: “I don’t care.” However, radio host Ken Carman says he does not know what he is about to face.

“He’s about to get a taste of real Cleveland coming up here on Saturday,” Carman said on The Ken Carman Show with Anthony Lima on 92.3 The Fan.

The Dawg Pound has repeatedly made it clear that they aren’t Watson fans. Most recently, they didn’t even wait for kickoff, booing the quarterback during an open practice at training camp.

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And Lima explained that the amount of heckling he is going to face this season might come as a shock to the 30-year-old.

“It might be like culture shock to him. He probably feels like, Hey, if he stays away from the internet, and someone like him, I would advise him to do that. And I’m sure the people in his quarter do. I think it could be jarring to him. He’s not getting booed every day in his world. It’s going to be different when he takes the field, and these people are going to be like, you’ve ruined our franchise for four years, and the move to bring you in has ruined the franchise,” Lima said.

That does sum up why Cleveland feels skeptical about Watson. The Browns traded for him from the Houston Texans in 2022 and gave up five draft picks, out of which three were first-rounders. Then they signed him to an unprecedented $230 million fully guaranteed contract.

What made it worse is that Watson did not even play the entire 2022 season, missing the first 11 games due to a suspension for s****l assault allegations and inappropriate conduct during massage sessions. Even though the criminal charges were declined, the NFL issued a suspension and a $5 million fine.

In the next season, Watson was again limited to just six games. In 2024, he was further limited to seven games before he ruptured his Achilles, sidelining him for the entire 2025 season.

Though this season marks a fresh start for the veteran as he enters the final year of his four-year deal with Cleveland, facing criticism and being booed is hardly new for him.

When Watson joined the team back in Week 13 during the 2022 season, he was heavily booed by the Dawg Pound due to his legal troubles. However, Lima is trying to convey that the criticism he will face from the fans this time will be different from how he might be treated in real life.

“He spent most of his offseason here in Cleveland for the first time, finally…so when he is, when he’s around town and going to restaurants and stuff, he’s not getting booed. He’s getting taken care of. He’s not experiencing the Cleveland that he’s going to be experiencing when he goes out there [to play],” Lima added.

Another reason for the boos is Watson’s intense QB competition against Shedeur Sanders. Most fans want the second-year QB to be the starter this season. That frustration showed last year, too, when fans booed former head coach Kevin Stefanski and QB Dillon Gabriel at home.