Deshaun Watson's bloated contract has hung around the necks of the Cleveland Browns organization for years. Unfortunately for the passionate fans who reside in northeast Ohio, there's one more detail of Watson's deal that's yet to terrorize their favorite team.
The 30-year-old quarterback's contract with the Browns still includes a "poison pill" provision that guarantees him an additional $200 million if he remains on the team's roster on March 1 of next season. The alternative for the Browns is to cut him with a post-June designation. They'd still owe him $34.6 million in 2027 and a whopping $51.5 million in 2028 to get out of his contract via that method.
Even with contract 'poison pill', the Browns need to move on
That's still the only reasonable path forward for a Browns franchise that desperately needs to get rid of arguably the worst signing in team history. The combination of Watson's off-the-field issues and his injuries have stopped him from giving Cleveland anything close to reasonable value compared to the boatloads of cash he's been paid.
Even if Watson defies the odds and plays something approximating decent football as the team's starter in 2026, it should not cause the team to rethink his long-term future in Cleveland. They need to turn the page and chart a new course at quarterback. Watson has no upside as a future starter. The same can arguably be said about teammate Shedeur Sanders since he was unable to beat out Watson to win the starting job in the preseason.
Deshaun Watson's contract contains a built-in poison pill.
— Spotrac (@spotrac) August 24, 2026
If he's on the roster next March 13th, a $200M salary guarantee kicks in.
This affords Cleveland the opportunity to designate him a Post 6/1 release before 3/13, which splits the remaining dead cap into:
2027: $34.6M…
The only silver lining to Cleveland's putrid quarterback situation is that they do possess two first round picks to wield in next year's draft. In theory, that gives the team the draft capital required to position themselves to get an elite prospect at the game's most important position. Next year's draft class is stocked full of signal-callers who can inspire hope in Cleveland. That's something the team has been short of ever since making the massive move to acquire Watson.
Where will Deshaun Watson go after the Browns let him go?
Watson's future in the NFL is murky at best. Quarterback needy teams have historically been willing to bet on players plagued by off the field issues, but Watson pairs those concerns with poor performance. He hasn't been a decent starter since plying his trade for the Texans all the way back in 2020.
That means he could easily be playing his last year of football in the NFL. That's a massive decline for a player who looked to be on a potential Hall-of-Fame trajectory before taking his talents to Cleveland. Now it's just a matter of time before the Browns pull the plug on the worst experiment in team history. They can't part ways with him fast enough to breathe life into the moribund franchise.
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