The Cleveland Browns adjusted Deshaun Watson’s deal once again on Thursday morning. Watson’s 2024 salary had $44.79 million of the $46 million total converted into his signing bonus, creating an additional $35.832 million in cap space for this season. This took Cleveland’s total current cap space to over $62 million.
Browns fans may have initially thought this was done to make room for a big addition, possibly Brandon Aiyuk who Cleveland was rumored to have had a trade in place for earlier this offseason. That was proven false quickly as Aiyuk signed a 4 year $120 million extension just hours after the Watson restructure.
The contract restructure was more likely to create some rollover money for next year’s cap, where the Browns are projected to possibly be $66 million over the maximum. The new Watson deal now places his salary at $72.935 million for both 2025 and 2026. Cleveland is continuing their trend of converting his yearly pay into his bonus in order to postpone paying him the guaranteed money he is owed. All 230 million of it.
The idea of postponing his cap hit is to let the league salary cap rise more and more, hoping to allow the Watson salary to take up a lower percentage of the team’s total. It also is to give the team flexibility instantly to continue paying the young talent already in the building. General manager Andrew Berry and owner Jimmy Haslam are clearly making a point of retaining vital players to help make a Super Bowl push each season. However, eventually they will have to take the cap hit of Deshaun’s deal.
Cleveland will have to make a decision at some point to either extend Watson, or take the hit and let his contract expire and move on from him. The deal has void years in 2027 and 2028 now. If they don’t extend him by then, they will have to finally pay him the rest of the money from the record-breaking deal. Cleveland could theoretically cut him after 2024 if this season went horribly and they felt the project was finally over. But that would result in a dead cap hit of $172.77 million. They could split it into two years with a post-June 1st cut, making it $86.385 per year. That would still edge out the league record for dead cap from a single player, which is currently the Broncos with former quarterback Russell Wilson at $85 million.
Cleveland does seem to have been preparing to make space in other ways the past few offseason as well. Tackle Jack Conklin and guard Joel Bitonio both make over $10 million per year. Cleveland drafted backups for both in the last two drafts. They took Michigan guard Zak Zinter in the second round in 2024 and tackle Dawand Jones of Ohio State in 2023. Jones saw significant time already after Conklin suffered a season-ending injury early last year. He proved to be an already skilled pass protector and held his own each week. Cleveland could move on from both veteran linemen in the near future if the cheaper duo prove to be capable.
The Browns are also loaded at cornerback with Denzel Ward, Martin Emerson Jr, and Greg Newsome II. Ward makes over $12 million per year and has had major injuries, including five concussions as a pro. Cleveland could look to move on soon when the money continues to add up despite Ward’s stellar play.
Even considering a trade for Watson is out of the question. No team in the league would take on his deal, especially with how he’s performed and his injury problems. If Watson could somehow finally improve and become a solidified above average starter for the Browns, then they could look into an extension. Extending him would allow the team to continue divvying up his money throughout more years as the cap continues to rise each season. The added money from a new deal wouldn’t likely be too much, given Watson’s play and off-the-field issues. The Browns however will likely look to move on by then unless Watson drastically improves, in which case he may want more per year on his new deal anyways.
The summary is that Andrew Berry and Jimmy Haslam are doing all they can to make the record deal better for the team as it stands in the immediate future. There are short-term solutions they can take each year with the signing bonus conversion as they’ve done each of these first three years. The issue remains that they are getting sub-par quarterback play when Watson is on the field, making it frustrating to work around his deal. The frustrations will not likely stop anytime soon, but the brief relief of the deal can help the contending team now.
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