The Cleveland Browns’ trade for QB Deshaun Watson and the fully guaranteed contract they signed him to will forever be seen as two of the worst moves in NFL history. As of now, Watson remains the Browns’ starting quarterback, so it looks like he will have to accept the fact that this will likely be his last time in the NFL.
Watson, 29, has been the worst starting QB in the NFL since his first appearance in Cleveland in 2022. He has outperformed his reserves (Joe Flacco and Jacoby Brissett) and his predecessor (Baker Mayfield) despite the loss of the Browns organization. Go out of your way to help him.
Deshaun Watson stats (ESPN): 5-3 TD-INT, 1,020 passing yards, 61.3% pass completion rate, 5.1 yards per attempt, 31 sacks, 76.6 QB rating.
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After Flacco significantly outperformed Watson last season, Cleveland let go of the fan favorite who had a strong following in the locker room without making a contract offer. The organization has decided not to keep a backup that has already been proven to be able to perform better than Watson in the same environment.
Based on various NFL statistics, Watson remains the worst quarterback in football this season. Entering Week 7, he has the lowest quarterback rating (21.6), the most sacks (31), and the lowest average yards per attempt (5.1) among starters with at least 100 attempts. . Although he remains the Browns’ starting quarterback, his NFL career is coming to an end for good.
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“I think the league would like for him to go away and not come back to any franchise,” one NFL executive told Mike Sand of The Athletic. A second executive agreed, saying that if Watson became a free agent tomorrow, he wouldn’t sign with any team.
“They might cut him tomorrow, but nobody’s going to pick him up. I don’t want that toxicity to have anything to do with my team building.”
Anonymous NFL executive talks about Cleveland Browns QB Deshaun Watson
Deshaun Watson Contract (Spotrac): $27.942 million cap hit in 2024, $72.935 million cap hit in 2025, $72.935 million cap hit in 2026, $26.9 million dead cap in 2027.
But there’s one common thought about how Cleveland can recoup some of the money it owes Watson. Looking around the league, the Browns are a team willing to take on $30 million to $40 million of Watson’s cap hit over the next two years and take that portion off Cleveland’s books in exchange for multiple premium draft picks in the future. is possible to find.
The Browns once benefited from this, acquiring a second-round pick in the 2018 NFL Draft in exchange for signing Brock Osweiler and assuming his unpaid $16 million. A team that acquires Watson in a trade would likely release him immediately, spreading the cap hit over multiple seasons. But doing so would cost the Browns at least a first-round pick, and potentially more.
