The Cleveland Browns went all-in on Deshaun Watson when they traded for him last offseason in spite of the troubling allegations against him and the subsequent league suspension because of them. Now, the Browns are certainly going to have to put their money where it matters as the quarterback’s new contract officially kicks in.
Watson signed a fully guaranteed five-year, $230 million contract with the Browns following his trade from the Houston Texans. That’s so large that it’s a full $80 million higher than the previous record. Because of that, the Browns are about to get hit with a pretty substantial cap hit.
The three-time Pro Bowler’s contract will cause a cap hit of $54,993,000 through 2026, the largest cap number in the history of the NFL.
never before has an NFL player’s cap hit exceeded $39M
that all changes this year
Deshaun Watson's $54,993,000 cap hit in 2023 will be the largest for any player in NFL history
Watson will hit the Browns’ cap for the same $54,993,000 every single season thru 2026 pic.twitter.com/1ub6nwe4f5
— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) February 20, 2023
That revelation certainly got the NFL world talking.
“Watson’s camp telling Schefter the Browns were out of the running for the QB last offseason turned out to be the most lucrative “leak” in NFL history,” said CBS Sports’ Chris Trapasso.
“All this to come last in the division for the next decade is crazy,” said one fan.
“This has to go down as the dumbest deal ever right?” asked another fan.
It’s hard to imagine the Watson contract will pay off for the Browns as they hope, but we’ll see how things go in 2023.
