No surprise, the Cleveland Browns are in quite a predicament with Deshaun Watson, and it could be bad karma for having signed the controversial figure in the first place.
After the news that Watson underwent surgery on Thursday after tearing his Achilles for the second time, his outlook for 2025 is in doubt, leaving the Browns in a financial mess.
Cleveland traded for Watson in the 2022 offseason with the Houston Texans, the last place where Watson played consistent football. This exchange and the ensuring contract that the Browns signed him to cost an arm and leg.
The Browns signed him to a fully guaranteed $230 million deal for a term of five seasons. There are three more years left on this horrendous agreement.
Now, judging this in retrospect, here is what the Browns sacrificed for Watson: a 2022 1st-round pick, 2022 4th-round pick, 2023 1st-round pick, 2023 3rd-round pick, 2024 1st-round pick and a 2024 4th-round pick.
What did they receive in return? Watson, of course, who has been good for 19 total games in three seasons in which he has produced a 61.2 completion percentage along with an average of 177.1 average yards, and a 2024 6th round selection.
As NFL insider Ari Meirov questions, is the Browns move for Watson officially the worst move in the history of professional football?
The Browns only recently restructured Watson’s contract. The adjustment allows the Browns to spread out the cap hit toward the end of Watson’s deal, which runs through the 2026 season. Despite this, he is still set to receive $92 million in guaranteed money over the next two years.
Cleveland is now left to scramble for another quarterback already being financially chained to Watson, who even when on the field, hasn’t proved he is anywhere in the same galaxy of the guaranteed money he is enjoying in his direct deposit.
Browns general manager Andrew Berry addressed Watson’s setback in his end-of-season press conference earlier this week, stating that it would not have a major effect on the team’s offseason strategy for the quarterback position.
The only other quarterback currently under contract for the 2025 season is Dorian Thompson-Robinson, a 2023 fifth-round pick who faced challenges in his two starts this year. Jameis Winston, who filled in for Watson in seven games before being benched, is set to become an unrestricted free agent, while Bailey Zappe, who started in the season finale, is a restricted free agent.
The only fortunate thing for Cleveland is that it secured the No. 2 overall pick in the 2025 draft by finishing the season with three wins after making it into the playoffs last year.
Both Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders and Miami’s Cam Ward are quarterback talents projected to be taken with the first two picks. But does that help Cleveland in the short-term?
Besides, the Browns are reported to pass on taking a quarterback in the No. 2 spot.
A likely route is that the Browns could draft one of those two prospects and sign Kirk Cousins, who is expected to be cut loose by the Atlanta Falcons between now and March 10 so they don’t have to pay him his $10 million bonus.
