It is the gift that keeps on giving.
The Cleveland Browns have provided an update on the worst contract in all of professional sports.
The five-year, $230 million fully-guaranteed contract the Browns gave quarterback Deshaun Watson in 2022, after trading three first-round draft picks and a third for him has undergone some minor tweaking.
The Cleveland front office restructured Watson’s unprecedented contract to create $35.75 million of cap space.
They did so by converting $44.7 million of his 2025 salary into a signing bonus.
This move was expected as the Browns were nearly $23 million over the cap before it processed.
This now makes Cleveland cap compliant and gives them a little bit of flexibility. Emphasis on a little.
Watson and the Browns had agreed to a restructure back in December that made this move possible, while having an eye towards the future and a potential breakup in either 2026 or 2027.
The embattled quarterback ruptured his Achilles tendon in October in a game against the Cincinnati Bengals, then suffered the same injury again in January away from football.
He won’t be ready for the start of the 2025 season, and chances are he won’t suit up at all next year.
There’s a significant chance that Watson won’t take another snap for the Browns again.
If so, he will have only played in a grand total of 19 games during his time in Cleveland.
He won only nine of those, with 19 touchdowns against 12 interceptions. Hardly a blip on the radar.
But due to the historic contract the Browns gave him, it makes all of this a cataclysmic failure.
Cleveland has no one to blame but themselves. It’s why the Browns are the Browns.
And a reminder why teams don’t ever give out fully-guaranteed contracts.
Right or wrong, the Watson chaos proves their point.
As for what the immediate future holds for Cleveland at the quarterback position, nobody knows.
They hold the second overall pick in April’s Draft, and have been linked to Cam Ward and Shedeur Sanders, should they choose to go that route.
Or they could find a bridge quarterback for this season and figure it out the following year, in classic Cleveland fashion.
By the way, their best player, Myles Garrett, wants to be traded.
It’s a never ending circus on the shores of Lake Erie, that seemingly has no end in sight.
And once again, the Watson contract rears its ugly head to remind everyone that he’s still there.
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