The Jets, Browns, 49ers, and Jaguars should be sorry they passed up Deshaun Watson

The 49ers and Browns have two things in common: Neither team has a viable quarterback, and both are still looking for their first win of the NFL season. The Texans had those same quarterback woes for years, too. But they did something about it, trading with the Browns to move up to the 12th spot in this year’s draft to get Clemson sensation Deshaun Watson.

The 49ers and Browns are not the only teams that should be, or are, regretting passing on Watson. The Jets are also having some buyer’s remorse over the decision to not trade back into the first round to select Watson, according to Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News.

What’s stands out about Watson is his poise and awareness. He’s set NFL records by being the first rookie to throw for three or more touchdowns in four consecutive games. He’s tied with Carson Wentz at the top of the league with 19 passing touchdowns so far this season. That also beat Kurt Warner’s record of 18 touchdown passes through the first seven games of his career.

The Texans are just 3-4, but Watson’s made them a contender in the AFC South. They’ve got a bright future with an exciting franchise quarterback, unlike so many other teams are still looking for after years of trying.

There are four teams that can all look back and wonder how things might have been different had they drafted Watson when they had the chance last spring. All of them would be better off, but only one team would’ve been elevated to a real Super Bowl threat with Watson.

Let’s run through the list.

Josh McCown is 38 years old and he’s still better than Christian Hackenberg or Bryce Petty. It doesn’t help that the Jets moved on from Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker. Their top receivers right now are Jermaine Kearse and Robby Anderson.

McCown has been consistent early in games, but seems to wear down as games go on. The Jets had the chance to beat the Patriots in Week 6, but couldn’t pull off the last-minute comeback. McCown threw a game-sealing interception to end the Week 7 loss to the Dolphins. This week, the Jets were trailing by five points and McCown had just over a minute to try to get into the end zone against the Falcons. He didn’t.

Mehta says that the Jets organization was willing to deal Muhammad Wilkerson and a 2018 first-round pick to trade back to No. 12 and take Watson. Instead, the Texans traded up and got him for their No. 25 pick and a 2018 first-round selection, while the Jets are rolling with McCown and have no long-term answer at the position.

The Browns are in full-blown rebuilding mode and had a ton of needs on both sides of the ball coming into the 2017 draft. They got DeShone Kizer in the second round with the expectation that he could develop into a starter one day. Instead, he won the starting job right away.

Kizer’s been benched twice already for costly red zone interceptions. Turning to Kevin Hogan and Cody Kessler didn’t work, either. Kizer keeps sliding back into the starting role even though he’s thrown 11 picks against three touchdowns this year. Sunday’s loss to the Vikings was Kizer’s first turnover-free game of the year.

The supporting cast isn’t giving any of the QBs much to work with in Cleveland. Perennial All-Pro Joe Thomas is out for the season with a torn triceps, and Kenny Britt hasn’t done much for the Browns. The team’s best receiver is running back Duke Johnson, who has 324 yards and a touchdown.

If the Browns had just stayed pat at No. 12, they could be trotting out Watson as the starter right now. But it would take much more than Watson to fix the Browns, but at least it’d be more fun, maybe.

If the 49ers want to turn things around, it’s going to take a quarterback other than Brian Hoyer or C.J. Beathard. Hoyer was benched for Beathard after completing 58 percent of his passes and throwing as many interceptions as touchdowns. Beathard hasn’t been much better, with five turnovers and a quarterback rating of 65.2 through three games, a number that’s even worse than Hoyer’s.

Pierre Garçon and Marquise Goodwin aren’t DeAndre Hopkins and Will Fuller, but they’d be more productive with Watson throwing to them. Watson would also be working with Kyle Shanahan, who coached an MVP performance out of Matt Ryan in 2016.

The 49ers have lost five of their eight games by three or fewer points. Surely Watson could have turned some of those into wins.

The Jaguars might be the best team in the league right now if they had Watson behind center ... or almost anyone besides Blake Bortles.

Their defense is setting the pace so far this season. They lead the league in sacks with 33, which puts them on pace to finish with the most sacks in league history. They have 10 picks, nine forced fumbles, and 50 pass breakups. That defense and a strong run game is what’s allowing them to win games, rather than putting anymore weight than they have to on the shoulders of Bortles, who has thrown 56 interceptions over three and a half seasons.

Leonard Fournette is tied with Ezekiel Elliott for the most rushing touchdowns in the league through Week 8 with six. He and Watson would have been a quality duo for the Jaguars to build the offense around for years to come.

Watson would certainly be better than the quarterbacks teams like the Jets, Browns, 49ers, or Jaguars are starting now, but he wouldn’t be producing at this rate with those franchises. What those teams would have is more hope for the future and games that are a lot more fun to watch right now.