Browns free up $36M with Watson restructure

BEREA, Ohio — The Cleveland Browns have restructured quarterback Deshaun Watson‘s contract, a league source told ESPN’s Field Yates, in a move that creates $35.832 million in salary cap space.

Cleveland converted $44.79 million of Watson’s $46 million 2024 base salary into a signing bonus, the source told Yates. The move gives the Browns more than $62 million in cap space, the most in the NFL.

The Browns are expected to roll over the majority of the cap space to have financial flexibility in the 2025 offseason, when they are already projected to be $44 million over the cap, according to ESPN’s Roster Management System. Wide receivers Amari Cooper and Elijah Moore, running back Nick Chubb and left tackle Jedrick Wills Jr. are among Cleveland’s free agents next offseason.

In recent years, Cleveland has been aggressive in restructuring the deals of high-priced players to maintain short-term flexibility.

This marks the second time the Browns have adjusted the contract of Watson, who signed an NFL-record $230 million fully guaranteed deal upon being traded from the Houston Texans in March 2022. Ahead of the start of free agency in 2023, the Browns cleared about $36 million in cap space by restructuring Watson’s contract and adding a void year.

Earlier in the offseason, general manager Andrew Berry said he viewed the Watson trade as a long-term commitment that spanned past his first contract.

While the Browns did not add any years to Watson’s deal, the restructure further ties them to the 28-year-old, with significant dead cap hits if they were to move off from him before the deal expires. Watson will have cap hits of $72.9 million each in the 2025 and 2026 seasons, with $172 million and $99 million dead cap hits, respectively.

As part of the blockbuster trade for Watson, Cleveland sent three first-round draft picks to Houston. Watson has played in only 12 games with the Browns because of injuries last season and his 2022 suspension for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy after more than two dozen women accused him of sexual assault and inappropriate conduct during massage sessions.

Watson, a three-time Pro Bowl selection during his first four seasons with the Texans, has posted a 41.9 QBR since making his debut with the Browns, the NFL’s sixth-worst mark in that time frame.

This offseason, Watson rehabbed his throwing shoulder after undergoing season-ending surgery last November. After throwing every other day during the offseason workout program, Watson participated in all but one training camp practice in the summer. Watson did not play in the preseason and was limited in a practice last week because of arm soreness, but he is expected to be ready for the Browns’ season opener against the Dallas Cowboys on Sept. 8.