Is Browns' QB Deshaun Watson Or Jets' QB Aaron Rodgers Under More Pressure?

It's no secret that Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson has a lot to prove in 2024.

Coming off of a season-ending glenoid fracture in his throwing shoulder, simply getting a full season out of Watson would be a step in the right direction. That's something the 28-year-old hasn't done that in nearly four years. Still, when the Browns shipped three first-round picks and more to the Texans to acquire Watson in 2022, they were expecting to get one of the best quarterbacks in football.

Instead, the 2017 first-round pick has played in just 12 games over the last two years, completing less than 60% of his passes for 2,217 yards 14 touchdowns and nine interceptions. Coupled with a checkered off-the-field past, Watson has a pretty massive monkey to get off his back next season.

Similarity though, Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers is facing some lofty expectations following a season-ending injury of his own. The Jets signal caller played just four snaps for his new team before suffering a ruptured Achilles. While the ex-Packers QB flirted with becoming a politician and comes with a pretty controversial history of his own, he's looking to rise above the outside noise around him and deliver a bounce season at the age of 40 nonetheless.

That'll be easier said than done and in a city like New York patience tends to run thin. So which of these two star QBs is under more pressure in 2024?

NFL and Jets reporter Antwan Staley of the NY Daily News joined "The Dawg Check" podcast this week and explained why it's pretty close between the two.

"It might be Aaron, but I think they might be on the same level for different reasons," Staley said. "Obviously the off the field things [for Deshaun], he's very polarizing for that. And then he's getting paid a ton of money, which was just unprecedented ... this is it, I think this is a major, major year for him.

I think Aaron is under that same microscope only for a different reason because one, he's polarizing in himself. Obviously off the field things, not in the same manner as Deshaun. But lot of people either tend to love Aaron Rodgers or they hate him."

Which of the two polarizing AFC QBs has more to prove in 2024?