When will the Browns be able to cut Watson?

[Jegpeg]

In for last season Watson's Cap Number was $63m this put them in cap hell so they restructured it. The problem was the restucture resulted in a 2025 Cap number of $73.

Now so they can put put a roster together for 2025 they have restructured again reducing that the cap hit to a manageable $37m, but that increases his 2026 cap hit to $82m.

Clearly the Browns will not be able to stick with that and will have to push it back again before the 2026 season, which makes me wonder how long he will have to be on their books.

One thing I dont understand is he has a base Salary of $200m in 2029. Does that mean he they are not able to cut him before the start of the 2029 season they are on the hook for another $200m? If so will the Browns have to form a squad in 2026, 2027 or 2028 with Watson taking $80m or so of cap space?

 

[Appyhawk]

Just Cleveland's bad luck Denver has already been there and done that or they might have had a potential out. /s

 

[Hawkinaz]

I would be very tempted to make him a post June 1 cut dividing the cap hit into 2 different seasons. It would be pulling off a very big band aid. The Broncos did it after cutting Wilson and survived

I noticed on Spotrac that after the contract “ends” in 2026 but there are so far 3 void years. The Browns plan might be to extend him a few more times to add more void years to soften the blow as much as possible

My guess is the Browns will be paying Watson until the mid 2030s

 

[Ostatehawk]

My God that's grim.

But hey - they did it to themselves - it was pretty evident that he was not a good guy.

 

[OneLofaTatupu]

My God that's grim.

But hey - they did it to themselves - it was pretty evident that he was not a good guy.

It’s was the sort of go all in knowing that if it backfires you’ll be essing Ds for coke for a very long time

 

[Torc]

I can only hope that 31 other teams learned a lesson. QB salaries, and especially guaranteed money, are pretty darn ridiculous.

 

[Jegpeg]

I can only hope that 31 other teams learned a lesson. QB salaries, and especially guaranteed money, are pretty darn ridiculous.

Watson's contract is a bit of a one off.

Highest paid payers are usually ranked on average income over the contract, but this is only paid in the player performs extensions can confuse things but I'll keep it simple. If a player doesn't perform you are throwing away the fully guaranteed salary.

On APY the highest paid player is Prescott with a 4 yr $240m contract, I don't think his lay has been worth that much but he is certainly of strart standard. If the Cowboys instantly regretted their decision they would only have to pay a little over half that $129m so the cowboys were actually gambling $129m on Prescott.

Watson was fully guaranteed all $230m, noone else gets close to that, the second highest guaranteed money in a contract is Burrow's $146m. If someone like Lamar Jackson was given such a contract who has performed at the highest level consistently it could be understandable but only half of his money is fully guaranteed.

Watson was a player who hadn't played for a year when the contract was signed and it was known he would get a lengthy ban at the start of the next, with the possibly of several years in jail. Having his sexual activities exposed to the world was also likely to affect his play mentally. It had to be expected he would have regressed when he cam back (and it wasn't like he was the GOAT when playing for the Texans). Why the Browns gambled $230m fully guranteed, 3 first round picks + change on a player with so many red flags is beyond me and I can not see it happening again.

 

[Hawkinaz]

Watson's contract is a bit of a one off.

Highest paid payers are usually ranked on average income over the contract, but this is only paid in the player performs extensions can confuse things but I'll keep it simple. If a player doesn't perform you are throwing away the fully guaranteed salary.

On APY the highest paid player is Prescott with a 4 yr $240m contract, I don't think his lay has been worth that much but he is certainly of strart standard. If the Cowboys instantly regretted their decision they would only have to pay a little over half that $129m so the cowboys were actually gambling $129m on Prescott.

Watson was fully guaranteed all $230m, noone else gets close to that, the second highest guaranteed money in a contract is Burrow's $146m. If someone like Lamar Jackson was given such a contract who has performed at the highest level consistently it could be understandable but only half of his money is fully guaranteed.

Watson was a player who hadn't played for a year when the contract was signed and it was known he would get a lengthy ban at the start of the next, with the possibly of several years in jail. Having his sexual activities exposed to the world was also likely to affect his play mentally. It had to be expected he would have regressed when he cam back (and it wasn't like he was the GOAT when playing for the Texans). Why the Browns gambled $230m fully guranteed, 3 first round picks + change on a player with so many red flags is beyond me and I can not see it happening again.

That’s what happens when clueless owners get involved in team building