The Cleveland Browns are once again making headlines, and not for the right reasons. Deshaun Watson’s contract, already notorious for its staggering fully guaranteed $230 million, has just taken another wild turn. In a bold move, the Browns restructured Watson’s deal, converting $44.79 million of his salary cap space into a signing bonus. This gives the team a whopping $35.83 million in new cap space—but here’s the kicker: they can’t even use it this season.
Instead, the Browns will roll this cap space into next year, where they are already $66 million over the cap, second only to the New Orleans Saints. Watson’s contract, which was already an eyebrow-raiser, now sees him carrying a colossal $72.9 million cap hit for the 2025 and 2026 seasons, with an additional $26.9 million in dead cap for 2027. The implications of this financial gymnastics are yet to be fully realized, but one thing is certain: the Browns are navigating uncharted territory, and the stakes couldn’t be higher.
Oh man, I am jealous. I had a 3-month family trip to the US planned for 2020 which would see me get to the Chargers’ first home game at SoFi (which would have turned out to be Herbert’s unexpected debut game) at the end of the trip. But then COVID happened, the trip was cancelled, and the game was played in an empty stadium anyway.
