Bad quarterback investments have been frequent over the past few years. With due respect to the ill-fated moves outside Ohio, the Browns are on their own tier regarding a potential misstep due to the contract and trade compensation required to bring Deshaun Watson to town. Fifteen starts in across three seasons, this acquisition has not come close to producing what Cleveland sought.
The Browns have seen glimmers of hope from their high-priced passer, but he has wildly underperformed based on expectations. Watson, the NFL’s passing leader during his final active season in Houston and a three-time Pro Bowler who drew historic trade offers from at least three other teams in 2022, ranks ahead of only Bryce Young in QBR this season. At 29, the embattled quarterback has not responded well at a career crossroads.
It also may not exactly be accurate to label the former Pro Bowler as being at a crossroad point, as his 2025 and ’26 seasons — on a $230MM contract — are fully guaranteed. The Browns are dealing with the kind of trouble NBA and MLB teams run into upon authorizing a bad long-term contract, as the deals are almost always fully guaranteed in those leagues. Guardrails are in place in the NFL to protect teams against this type of situation unfolding. Owners already veered away from this contract structure — based on the QB deals finalized since Watson’s March 2022 windfall — and based on the Browns’ return on investment, another big-ticket fully guaranteed accord is highly unlikely to commence anytime soon.
A murky path to the Browns voiding Watson’s guarantees may exist if the QB is suspended in connection with the latest sexual assault allegation to emerge, but the team is still committed to making this fit work on the field. A quick hook involving the eighth-year passer is unlikely to commence due to the investment the Browns made, ESPN.com’s Jeremy Fowler notes. Jameis Winston sits as the Browns’ backup, with the team having passed — to the surprise of some — on re-signing Joe Flacco, who is now the Colts’ backup.
Watson showed concerning form following his 2022 suspension, but that was effectively written off due to the lengthy midcareer layoff his off-field trouble and 2021 trade request brought. Last season featured the Browns go 5-1 in Watson’s starts, offering some hope the team could salvage this widely criticized acquisition. The team fired its OC and QBs coach (Alex Van Pelt, T.C. McCartney) despite Flacco’s shocking run to Comeback Player of the Year honors in Kevin Stefanski‘s system. Themed around wanting an offense more in line with Watson’s skillset, the Browns retooled under their newly extended HC.
Ken Dorsey‘s arrival has not brought improved play. And curiosity about how long the Browns want to keep going here has understandably become part of this equation. While Watson has not played with Nick Chubb since September 2023 and has not enjoyed a healthy O-line this season — as evidenced by the Giants’ eight-sack spree in Week 3 — his issues in Stefanski’s offense have existed since his 2022 debut.
Although a recent rumor pointed to the Browns bracing for another Watson ban, no present path to the team escaping the guarantees exists. The team, which also extended GM Andrew Berry this offseason despite the Watson contract occurring on his watch, is on the hook for $92MM in guaranteed salary from 2025-26.
The Browns have restructured Watson’s contract twice, inflating the dead money that would come in the event of a separation before 2027. It would cost them an astonishing $172MM in dead money to part ways with the struggling QB in 2025. That would introduce more new territory for dead money catastrophes. The Broncos’ $83MM-plus dead cap hit from Russell Wilson‘s contract already more than doubled the previous record.
We are not there yet, but barring a dramatic uptick from a quarterback who returned from a shoulder fracture, the Browns are stuck. Watson’s play could sink an otherwise well-built roster, one featuring players from two playoff teams since 2020.
Winston has 80 career starts on his resume, though he was erratic in Tampa and then benched in New Orleans for Andy Dalton early in the 2022 season. For now, the former No. 1 overall pick would only see time if another Watson injury occurs. Though, the on-field component of the Browns’ borderline disastrous QB situation — as more off-field drama plays out — certainly bears monitoring given the early-season results.
Ha ha Browns! That’s what you deserve signing a perv.
I would like to humbly offer my services.
I can lose games, but a fraction of the price.
As an added bonus – I have never assaulted anyone!
(Does Cleveland see this as a negative?)
Browns, call me.
Sign me up to be your backup! I can steal crab legs, too.
Me and CSS together will get Cleveland the first overall pick.
Guarantee!
Do yall need someone to set up the massages?
The Browns are going to have to massage this carefully.
Well played!
Give him time. He hasn’t found his stroke yet.
His ‘stroke’ …too clever & hilarious!
There’s nuttin to worry about I have fulfilled confidence this offense is going to EXPLODE and BUST through adversity any time now!
I’m glad Cleveland is confirming that the Bills made the right move changing OCs last year. Watson and their offense have gone from mediocre to bad under Dorsey.
Browns unlikely to win
And the GM and HC got extensions. My god. What a clown show
Because they both did exactly what meddlesome owner Jimmy Haslam told them to do, I would suspect.
Absolutely, Stefanski is an excellent HC, I would love for some day in the far future to sit and ask him what he really thinks of Watson. Stefanski built one hell of team, but the owner told him to put this pervert behind center and now the organization is right back to being the league joke.
They are not going to bench him, so the first thing they need to do is figure out how the o-line can protect Watson better.
I just feel that if Stefanski and Berry told Jimmy “No, we are not trading 3 first’s and giving him $250 million guaranteed considering nothing has been settled yet, he’s clearly awful off the field, and hasn’t played for a long time, plus the suspension time” it wouldn’t have happened. No way this is all Jimmy
Stefanski has been Coach of the Year twice, and I’m not exactly sure how.
They have to pay him whether he plays or not, whether he wins or not, so keeping him in to suck is a real head scratcher to me. It’s early enough that you can still turn the season around and your division is not full of world beaters, throw Jameis or DTR out there and try something new. If they suck, nothing’s really changed, but if they don’t then see where it takes you.
Another Cleveland team testing my allegiance. First, the Indians taking away Chief Wahoo, and then the team name, caused me to change teams after 55+ years.
Now this clown show is making me reconsider being a fan after the same amount of time. Losing is something I’ve been able to deal with, but this cluster**** is getting on my last nerve.
Changing a nickname made you switch teams?? That’s some serious snowflake stuff right there.
The snowflakes are the ones who changed the name of his team.
So a team NO LONGER being racist was an immediate dealbreaker but a team employing a serial rapist was more of a wait and see kinda thing and is only just now making you reconsider your fandom…after he’s bad.
Cool.
They’ve been testing my patience for years, to the point I stopped watching for a few years. My patience being tested now has to do with the ownership and FO, not a particular player. But hey, thanks for judging me, ahole.
“First, the Indians taking away Chief Wahoo, and then the team name, caused me to change teams after 55+ years.”
So, it wasn’t Wahoo or the team name then, it was their performance on the field?
Don’t they win their division almost every year?
Changing team name- unforgivable
Trading for serial rapist- let’s see how this plays out.
You sound like a good person.
Rest assured this will be a different story come Monday. The Browns are playing the Raiders this weekend in Vegas. The same team that made Andy Dalton the NFL Comeback player of the week with 3TD and 320 yards. The Raiders will make the Deshaun Watson trade look like the greatest deal ever made, the Browns got the steal of the decade.
wonder what tim couch is up to these days .. this mess started with him
I miss winners like Brian Sipe and Bernie Kosar.
Or Art Modell who decided to bolt just when Belicheck had the Browns 1.0 headed in the right direction. Been all downhill ever since Browns 2.0 came back on the scene.
Belichick had a losing record overall in Cleveland.
He had them pointed in the right direction until the announcement of the move when everything fell apart. There’s a very good documentary out there I’d suggest “A Football Life: 1995 Cleveland Browns”.
I would have arrived sooner but I wanted to give the Johnny Manziel comeback rumors a chance to gain some traction.
What is up with these No Alcohol Challenge ads on here? I suppose not drinking for a month gives you perfectly white teeth and turns you into some sort of southwestern cowboy in his late 50’s.
It’s all just low effort ai clickfarming. probably gives you malware
just ignore it
They are targeted ads. The algorithm thinks you need it.
I dunno, watching the game against the Giants, Watson had happy feet too much. Yes, the line played bad but he has to have better awareness or possible fumbles. The Giants also dropped two interceptions, which could have put this game away sooner. Burns was explosive in this game.
This was an underreported thing from his last year in Houston. I did a double take at his sack numbers. He got sacked like 60 times his last year there. I’m of the belief that QBs only have so many hits in them just like RBs before their ability is beaten out of them. He might have hit that threshold in 2019.
Karma is a blind MF’er.
But he/she knows how to find Cleveland.
Just make this dude go away. He got over on you all with the guaranteed deal. Dude needs to go away, move to a country with laxed prostitution laws.
I think his confidence went into the toilet once he was publicly outed as a sexual predator. He’s toast.