Before the start of the regular season, the Cleveland Browns agreed to a restructured contract with QB Deshaun Watson, a move that gives them the most cap space in the NFL instantaneously.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73553278/2168609063.0.jpg)
The move does not have any benefit to Watson himself; it is just the type of thing that we see GM Andrew Berry do historically, as he kicks the can down the road at a time when (likely) the NFL salary cap will continue to go higher and higher, while freeing up space for things like current players to be rewarded with contract extensions, or opening the possibility of acquiring someone via a trade.
The Browns did a similar restructure on Watson’s contract before the 2023 season. Therefore, in the table below, we break things down into three columns for the bonuses:
- Signing Bonus = his original signing bonus from his 2022 contract
- Bonus 2 = as a result of his restructure in 2023
- Bonus 3 = as a result of his restructure now (in 2024)
I tallied all three bonus columns up to be the “Total Bonus” column. Therefore, when coming up with the Total Cap Hit, you take the base salary + total bonus columns.
QB Deshaun Watson’s Contract After 2024’s Restructuring
| Year | Base Salary | Signing Bonus | Bonus 2 | Bonus 3 | Total Bonus | Total Cap Hit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | $1,035,000 | $8,993,000 | $0 | $0 | $8,993,000 | $10,028,000 |
| 2023 | $1,080,000 | $8,993,000 | $8,984,000 | $0 | $17,977,000 | $19,057,000 |
| 2024 | $1,210,000 | $8,993,000 | $8,984,000 | $8,958,000 | $26,935,000 | $28,145,000 |
| 2025 | $46,000,000 | $8,993,000 | $8,984,000 | $8,958,000 | $26,935,000 | $72,935,000 |
| 2026 | $46,000,000 | $8,993,000 | $8,984,000 | $8,958,000 | $26,935,000 | $72,935,000 |
| 2027 | Void | $0 | $8,984,000 | $8,958,000 | $17,942,000 | $26,900,000 |
| 2028 | Void | $0 | $0 | $8,958,000 | $8,958,000 | $0 |
| Total | $95,325,000 | $44,965,000 | $44,920,000 | $44,790,000 | $134,675,000 | $230,000,000 |
- Remember that Watson’s contract was originally worth $230 million, and it still is. Nothing was added in terms of incentives for Watson, which is why this restructuring differs from what someone like WR Amari Cooper got.
- Originally, Watson had a base salary of $46 million in each of the 2023-2026 seasons. You can see that those amounts still show up for 2025-2026, but that in 2023-2024, the amounts are reduced to the veteran minimum salary.
- As mentioned earlier, when the 2023 restructure happened, that $46 million (minus $1.08 million) was divided by five and split into another signing bonus for salary cap purposes, which tacked on one void year in 2027.
- Berry literally just did the same thing for 2024: he took the $46 million base salary (minus $1.21 million) and converted it to another base salary (labeled “Bonus 3”) that is spread out over five years, which tacks on one more void year in 2028.
- Instead of the Browns having a $63.77 million cap hit in 2024 for Watson, the cap hit is now just $28.15 million, a savings of $35.62 million this year. Cleveland can also use that as rollover space in 2025, if preserved.
The cap hits for Watson are $73 million for the 2025 and 2026 seasons. Odds are, Berry will just continue to repeat the same thing. However, Watson is also entering the half-way point of his contract, so you’d hope that he can actually play a full season and play well, to where the team can start also investigating giving Watson an extension in 2025 or 2026 as opposed to simply kicking those base salary hits down the road.
