Rather than moving high-priced quarterback Deshaun Watson to the active roster at the end of his 21-day practice window and allowing more practice work, the Browns are shutting him down.
Watson’s journey back from two Achilles tears will end, as Kevin Stefanski confirmed Tuesday, via cleveland.com’s Mary Kay Cabot, that the Browns will let his practice window close. This will prevent Watson from playing this season, though that was always a long-shot proposition.
This will bring a second full Watson season to a close without a snap taken. The Texans made their then-franchise QB a healthy scratch throughout the 2021 season, after Watson had requested a trade before an avalanche of sexual assault or misconduct allegations surfaced to effectively shut down the former Pro Bowler’s career. The Browns were undeterred, sending three first-round picks and more to the Texans for the embattled QB in 2022. That has proven to be a disastrous decision, as Watson was given an unprecedented contract and not come close to delivering a return on investment.
After submitting woeful on-field work to start the 2024 season, Watson suffered an Achilles tear. During his rehab process, the ninth-year veteran re-tore the tendon to set back his rehab. The Browns parked Watson on their reserve/PUP list after training camp, and although he did return to practice on December 3, it was never viewed as likely Cleveland would reinsert him into a game.
Shedeur Sanders is currently in place as Cleveland’s starting quarterback. The fifth-round rookie has shown flashes, but it is far from certain — regardless of Stefanski and GM Andrew Berry‘s futures in Ohio — the organization will prioritize the second-generation pro to the point he will receive a legitimate shot to become a long-term option. Sanders’ rookie contract does complement Watson’s albatross accord, but the Browns have two first-round picks in 2026. This could be an avenue for the team to finally make a big-ticket investment at a position doomed by the Watson trade.
Watson, 30, still has one season remaining on the five-year, $230M extension. The Browns memorably guaranteed that contract in full to convince Watson to come to Cleveland, as the Falcons were believed to be where the QB — a Georgia native — was set to go had Berry and Jimmy Haslam not put the $230M guarantee on the table. Haslam has since admitted a mistake on Watson, but in the NFL’s closest example of a contract genre the NBA and MLB have seen cripple teams, the deal has been too onerous to remove from the payroll. This pattern well persist into 2026.
As it stands, Watson is set to count $80.72M on Cleveland’s 2026 payroll. The cap hit would have checked in south of $50M as originally designed, but Berry has gone to the restructure well several times to save cap space over the course of this franchise-altering pact. It would cost the Browns $131.16M in dead money to release Watson in 2026. Even with a post-June 1 designation available to spread that amount through 2027, the team is viewed as likely to retain the QB next year.
While a Browns party line has called Watson a valuable veteran presence for rookies Sanders and Dillon Gabriel, he assuredly would have been jettisoned long ago had the team not fully guaranteed the contract. Teams have not followed suit, much to the NFLPA’s chagrin, on anything close to a fully guaranteed long-term deal since this Browns extension emerged. Based on its calamitous outcome, Watson’s deal should remain an outlier for the foreseeable future in the NFL.