Browns Given Brutal Honesty About Deshaun Watson's Monster Contract

The Cleveland Browns and what they're going to do at quarterback have been the talk of the NFL since even before the draft. Taking both Dillon Gabriel out of Oregon in the third round and the highly polarizing Shedeur Sanders and the media circus that was sure to follow him in the fifth certainly didn't help matters, though.

Those two rookies will now compete against veteran journeyman and former Super Bowl champion Joe Flacco and fourth-year prospect Kenny Pickett to be named the Browns' QB1 for Week 1. This is expected to be a heated battle all throughout training camp and the preseason, without a clear runaway favorite in the race, as reflected in the latest betting odds.

Of course, taking a look at Cleveland's salary cap table paints a different picture. Deshaun Watson, who ruptured his Achilles last season and then injured it again in the midst of rehabilitation, was always meant to be the Browns' quarterback of the future. Look no further than the trade package they gave up to initially acquire him as proof of how highly they valued him back in 2022, dealing away three first-round picks and plenty more draft capital to land him.

If that's not enough evidence, consider the massive five-year, $230 million guaranteed contract they signed him to after swinging the trade. That deal was questionable even at the time, progressively looked worse as he struggled in Cleveland, and has now turned into an absolute albatross in retrospect.

NFL salary cap expert Joel Corry recently explained just how damaging Watson's contract is for the Browns on 92.3 The Fan:

"Here’s the problem, if you don’t do another restructure, they have a dummy boarding year for 2030, so it’s set up that way. You’re going to have $53.747 million of dead money when the five years are up, going into that next lead year. If you do a maximum restructure next year, you’re going to add $35.76 million of dead money, because you’ll be pushing that amount of cap room into future years, which would bring the total dead money to $89.507 million. There aren't any good options with this contract."

Cleveland has already attempted to rework Watson's deal to give itself more flexibility, but so far, his presence has completely hamstrung their ability to field a competitive team on both sides of the ball.