When Deshaun Watson takes the field Sunday against the Dallas Cowboys, he’ll be doing so with a heavy heart.
The Cleveland Browns quarterback announced on social media Friday his father, Don Richardson, had died.
“Rest in Peace Pops,” Watson wrote on an Instagram story.
Watson, 28, was reportedly estranged from his father. He told the Houston Chronicle in 2017 he rarely saw his father.
“Maybe five (times), at the most,” Watson said.
“My mom was basically my mother and father, so I didn’t really pay too much attention to it. My friends had fathers. But, for me, it was just kind of, ‘Hey, my mother is the one that I’m going to rely on and I’ll always focus on.’ ”
Instead of using Richardson as his surname, the quarterback uses his mother’s last name.
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Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson walks onto the field before a game against the Minnesota Vikings at Cleveland Browns Stadium. (Scott Galvin/USA Today Sports)
It’s no secret Watson is facing immense pressure this season. After playing at Clemson University, where he led the Tigers to a national championship with a last-minute touchdown over Alabama, he was selected by the Houston Texans with the 12th pick in the 2017 NFL Draft.
Watson had three Pro Bowl seasons with the Texans before getting traded to the Cleveland Browns. In 2022, Watson was suspended for the first 11 games of his Browns tenure after being accused by more than two dozen women of sexual misconduct.
Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson before a game against the Green Bay Packers at Cleveland Browns Stadium. (Ken Blaze/USA Today Sports)
He played the final six games of the 2022 season with the Browns, going 3-3. Watson led the Browns to a 5-1 start in 2023 before being injured and having season-ending shoulder surgery in November.
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