While the Cleveland Browns raised some eyebrows when they once again reworked the contract for quarterback Deshaun Watson in late December, Browns general manager Andrew Berry dropped somewhat of a bombshell when he revealed on Monday that Watson had suffered a setback in his recovery from the ruptured Achilles he went down with this past October.
In a piece published Monday, Browns insider Tony Grossi of ESPN Cleveland/The Land on Demand hinted that Watson has likely played his final meaningful game with the organization.
“A bonus conversion of Watson’s 2025 base salary, finalized sometime in the coming season, reduces his cap number from $72.9M to $37M this year,” Grossi wrote about a possible scenario. “Watson spends all or most of 2025 on an injury list. The Browns designate him a post-June 1 release in March of 2026 [and] take dead cap hits of $46M in 2026 and $89.5M in 2027.”
At this point, it seems that the Browns’ decision to replace Baker Mayfield with Watson, acquired from the Houston Texans in March 2022, and then give him a fully guaranteed five-year, $230M contract will be one of the worst decisions ever made by an NFL team. While Mayfield has guided the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to back-to-back division titles, Watson has made just 19 regular-season starts with Cleveland. His 2023 campaign ended prematurely because of a serious shoulder injury, and he played poorly this past fall before his Achilles tear.
The Browns currently have the No. 2 overall pick in this year’s draft and could use that asset to land either Miami quarterback Cam Ward or Colorado signal-caller Shedeur Sanders. Before the draft begins, Cleveland will probably look to sign a veteran, such as current New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers or Kirk Cousins of the Atlanta Falcons, to a team-friendly deal similar to how the Pittsburgh Steelers added Russell Wilson to their squad last March.
However, Berry addresses the club’s quarterback situation, and it became clear on Monday that Cleveland’s 2025 Week 1 QB1 isn’t on the roster. It also appears Watson may never again be on the team’s active roster before he is shown the door in March 2026.
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