How do Browns get out of $230,000,000 Deshaun Watson problem? Listing every exit plan Cleveland can explore
Deshaun Watson and the Cleveland Browns are living in a mess. The situation between the quarterback and the franchise has become weird, with Watson not playing due to a shoulder injury but also being kept out of the field by Kevin Stefanski when he returned in Week 7 due to a possible head injury.
It's clear that, ever since giving him a fully guaranteed contract, the Browns are not getting the desired return from the trade with the Houston Texans. With the team sitting with a 4-2 record even with Deshaun Watson struggling to return to his previous heights, could Cleveland look for a way to get rid of him? Let's analyze some possibilities.
Could the Browns get rid of Deshaun Watson?
In theory, that would be impossible.
Make no mistake: the Browns absolutely fumbled the bag when they gave him a fully guaranteed five-year, $230 contract. He was coming from a full season away from the field, and there was the probability of a looming suspension that would take him away from the game even further.
To sign him for such a deal, they had to get creative with the salary cap. His cap hit for the 2022 season was below $10 million, which is obviously a low number - but at the same time, he's due to count $64 million against the salary cap from 2024 to 2026, which will be the highest cap hit for any player in the history of the league in a given year.
If the Cleveland Browns release Deshaun Watson after the 2023 season, they'd be up for $200 million in dead cap for the 2024 season. This is literally impossible, so let's not waste any time on a possibility that's never going to happen.
If the Cleveland Browns trade Deshaun Watson after the 2023 season, they'd incur $63 million in dead cap for the 2024 season but no penalty after that. If they trade him with a post-June 1 designation, they'd incur $18 million in dead cap for the 2024 season and $45 million for the 2025 season. But that's also not going to happen - even quarterback-needy teams such as the Atlanta Falcons would never take such a contract with Watson's current production.
If the Cleveland Browns restructure Deshaun Watson's contract after the 2023 season, they could get creative all they want. Moving his base salary for a signing bonus could make things easier for 2024, but it would make his cap hit even higher for 2025 and 2026.
One possible avenue would be to restructure his contract and add void years to spread his signing bonus for more years, allowing the team to explore different trade avenues with the cap hit for upcoming years less high. This is a risky strategy, though - the New Orleans Saints are cap strapped for a long time for abusing this cap maneuver.
Even though the situation feels a little bit muddy, the Cleveland Browns have no easy way to let Deshaun Watson go. They put themselves in this mess with the fully guaranteed contract, and now they have to deal with the consequences.