When the Cleveland Browns acquired Deshaun Watson from the Houston Texans on March 18, 2022, they were hoping they found their long-term solution at quarterback. They were so confident in Watson that they gave him an unprecedented fully guaranteed contract. Now, the quarterback has ruptured his Achilles tendon for the second time in three months, putting his 2025 season in jeopardy. Let’s examine whether the Browns can get out of Watson’s deal and what their options are going forward.
Can Cleveland Move On From Deshaun Watson This Offseason?
After joining the Browns, Watson signed a five-year, $230 million contract with the team. The Browns gave him a fully guaranteed deal, which seemed like an extremely questionable decision at the time given the two dozen sexual assault accusations against the quarterback. Now, it looks even worse, as the deal has aged horribly.
Watson’s five-year, $230 million contract pays him an average annual value of $46 million per year. While he isn’t the NFL’s highest-paid quarterback, he did have the most guaranteed money of any player in the NFL for a while.
When Watson initially signed the deal, it was $80 million more than the next-highest guaranteed amount in any contract in NFL history. Dallas Cowboys QB Dak Prescott surpassed Watson by receiving $231 million in guaranteed money when he signed his record four-year, $240 million deal prior to the 2024 regular season.
Earlier this year, Watson and the Browns restructured his deal, converting the entirety of the QB’s salary ($46 million) to a signing bonus. This restructuring allowed the Browns to add $36.8 million in cap space for this season. Then, several weeks ago, the two sides restructured his deal once again to “make his contract easier to manage following the 2026 season, when his deal expires,” according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.
However, it’s important to note that Watson is still due $92 million fully guaranteed over the next two seasons, making it very difficult for the Browns to move on from him. Given Watson’s struggles and back-to-back ruptured Achilles, this is widely regarded as the worst contract in the NFL.
If the Browns cut Watson, they will have to pay a huge dead-cap hit, which is a specific cap charge tied to a player who has been released, traded, or retired.
If Cleveland cuts Watson this offseason, they will have a 2025 dead-cap hit of $118.9 million (including $92 million cash) and a 2026 dead-cap hit of $53.8 million, according to Spotrac. This would be the largest dead-cap hit in NFL history, beating the $85 million dead-money hit (including $53 million in 2024) that the Denver Broncos absorbed when they released Russell Wilson.
Let’s say the Browns hold onto Watson until after the 2025 season and then decide to cut him. They would still get hit with a historic dead-cap hit of $72,935,000 (including $46 million cash) in 2026 and $26,900,000 in 2027.
Watson’s contract is up in 2027. It’s worth noting that nearly all of Watson’s 2025 earnings are insured, so Cleveland could receive a cap credit if Watson can’t play next season.
Watson’s stint with Cleveland has been plagued by injuries. Over the last three seasons (from 2022 to 2024), he played in just 19 games. Over that span, he threw for 3,365 yards, 19 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions with a 61.2% completion percentage.
This season, Watson is currently dead last in PFN’s QB+ metric, receiving an F grade. PFN’s QB+ metric assigns a letter grade to every quarterback performance and factors in a number of stats such as success rate when pressured, third-down conversion rate, pocket production, and clutch performance.
Even before getting hurt, Watson was in the bottom five for nearly every metric, including third-down conversion rate, nYPA, passing from a clean pocket, and passing when under pressure.
Now, Cleveland owns the No. 2 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, so it’s possible they will draft a quarterback such as Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders or Miami’s Cam Ward. There are also rumblings that they could sign Kirk Cousins for the veteran’s minimum once he’s released by the Atlanta Falcons — similar to the deal Russell Wilson signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers last offseason. This could give Cleveland a low-risk, high-reward veteran option without breaking the bank because of Watson’s huge contract.