If Deshaun Watson’s contract gets voided due to lawsuit, it won’t save the Browns entirely

The Cleveland Browns have a $230 million problem.

His name is Deshaun Watson and he might be the worst active starting quarterback in the entire NFL. To make matters worse, he is seen as a far worse person outside of the sport than he is as a player.

In a weekend that may go down as one of the worst weekends in Watson's life, he managed to embarrass himself on the field while also ending up on the wrong side of another lawsuit that alleges sexual assault and battery, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

The details of the allegations are incredibly gruesome and graphic. They seem very similar to the dozens of other allegations that surfaced. The key difference is that this lawsuit includes the specific accusation of sexual assault, a piece that has been absent in the others.

Browns could get out of Watson's contract, but with a catch

The Browns are currently set to pay Watson a lot of money over the rest of his contract. More money than he deserves for his level of play. But, if Watson happens to get suspended by the NFL due to these accusations and the active lawsuit filed against him, the Browns could get out of paying him this money.

But there's one small catch.

Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk recently discussed the idea of the Browns cutting Watson if he does get suspended by the league again.

"If it [the Browns cutting Watson] were to happen before the start of the 2025 season, the Browns would avoid $92 million in currently guaranteed salary obligations," Florio wrote. "That said, it would still come with a cost. Not in actual dollars but in cap dollars. Watson’s contract eventually would trigger a total cap charge of $80.77 million. If he was released after June 1, 2025 (or designated as a post-June 1 release), the cap charge would be $26.935 million for 2025 and another $53.835 million for 2026."

I'm sure that Browns fans may be willing to take that kind of cap hit just to not see Watson's errant passes on their screen anymore. Joe Flacco certainly wouldn't be costing them this much money, but the organization turned their backs on Flacco just like they did Baker Mayfield.

Everything is still being looked into. At this point, Watson is innocent and these are just accusations. But on the chance that anything serious comes from this lawsuit, Watson and the Browns could watch their relationship come to a screeching halt, much to the delight of Cleveland fans everywhere.