Amid all the quarterback rumblings about the Cleveland Browns, it's easier than you'd expect to forget that Deshaun Watson is still with the team.
Yes, they've got four healthy quarterbacks now in Kenny Pickett, Joe Flacco, Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders after taking two over the weekend in the NFL Draft.
But Watson continues to loom over things.
That may not matter in 2025, when he's out with a torn Achilles. But given his contract still runs through 2026, there could be some QB awkwardness loading in a year's time.
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Here's how ESPN's Daniel Oyefusi explains it:
"Watson will be on the roster for the 2025 season and then the team will have to make a decision on parting ways with him and dealing with the financial repercussions that come with it." Releasing Watson after the 2025 season with a post-June-1 designation... would leave the Browns with a $135 million dead cap charge that could be split between the 2026 and 2027 seasons... If the Browns parted ways with Watson after the 2026 season, the dead money would drop to $53 million."
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Cleveland is in trouble on the dead money regardless because of how the contract's void years are structured to keep paying Watson even once he's a free agent.
It remains to be seen whether Jimmy Haslam would eat an additional $80 million in dead money by releasing Watson a year early.
But if he doesn't, it leaves Watson looming over proceedings during a potentially very odd 2026 season. That might be even less desirable if one of the rookies stands out in 2025 and deserves the full-time starting job in 2026.
The Browns certainly aren't quite out of this mess just yet, so stay tuned.
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