The Cleveland Browns have finally done the work to move past the Deshaun Watson era, as ownership has called the situation a swing-and-a-miss while the front office has gone out and brought in four new quarterbacks this offseason while Watson works his way back from a twice-torn Achilles that could keep him out for all of the 2025 season.
The Watson deal is the kind of move that can set a franchise back for up to a decade, but the Browns are doing everything they can to move on as quickly as possible and make sure that damage doesn’t bleed into next year and beyond.
The deal has aged so poorly that Kristopher Knox of Bleacher Report recently wrote an article ranking the ten worst contracts in the NFL ahead of next season, and he has Watson as the runaway winner at No. 1.
“No one should be surprised by our No. 1 entry. In terms of annual value, Deshaun Watson’s $46-million-per-year pact isn’t outlandish for a quality starter—it ranks below players like Brock Purdy and Kyler Murray. The problem is that after trading for Watson in 2022, the Cleveland Browns gave him a fully guaranteed deal,” Knox wrote. “Barring a massive surprise, Cleveland is set to pay out another $167.1 million for Watson to quietly go away. This isn’t just the worst active contract in the NFL—it might be the worst deal in league history.”
It’s hard to stomach the fact that Watson is still owed $167.1 million, but Cleveland has gotten creative recently by restructuring the deal in an attempt to limit some of the dead cap hits.
Hopefully, one of these four quarterbacks can establish themselves because they don’t cost much money, and having a cheap quarterback would make it easier to deal with Watson’s repugnant $80.7 million cap hit in 2026.
Watson has given Cleveland 19 starts in his three years, and even the most doubtful skeptics couldn’t have envisioned things going this poorly.
Anytime fans get excited about the four new quarterbacks in town, it’s easy to remember Watson is still there to dampen the mood.
A resurgence from Kenny Pickett or Joe Flacco is needed to get this offense back on track and help wipe the bad taste out of this entire fan base’s mouth.
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