It’s not a surprise, because the Browns don’t have any truly viable options. Regardless, word is emerging that quarterback Deshaun Watson will be back with the Browns in 2025.
Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports reported earlier today that Watson is expected to return, as are coach Kevin Stefanski and G.M. Andrew Berry.
Owner Jimmy Haslam strongly suggested during the ownership meetings in Dallas that Stefanski and Berry would be back. That’s no surprise, either, given that both received extensions after Cleveland’s unexpected playoff berth in 2023.
In those same remarks, Haslam declined to comment on the quarterback position. But what was there to say? They’re already looking at ridiculously high salary-cap numbers for Watson in 2025 and 2026. Cutting him would make them crippling.
Watson is signed through 2026, at fully-guaranteed salaries of $46 million in each of the next two years. There’s no way out, unless Watson does something that would trigger a voiding of the guarantees. (With the most recent league investigation of Watson recently closed, so ended what might have been Cleveland’s last, best chance to avoid paying him another $92 million.)
Currently, the Browns are due to carry cap numbers of $72.935 million for Watson in 2025 and in 2026, with a final 2027 cap charge of $26.9 million, thanks to the aftermath of past restructurings.
As we’ve said many times, the Browns have to pay him — but they don’t have to play him. The only question is whether they’ll keep trotting him out, once he’s recovered from an Achilles tendon tear suffered earlier this season, in an effort to finally justify the single worst trade-and-sign transaction of the salary-cap era, if not all of league history.
Beyond the money and the cap ramifications, the Browns gave up three first-round picks and three other draft picks to get Watson. Those players could have helped form a nucleus of young talent that could have become key contributors for the franchise, at multiple positions.
Through it all, the Browns still have a solid roster. It would be much more solid if: (1) they had used those picks; and (2) they hadn’t dumped $230 million into Watson’s pocket.
And, yes, it’s easy to blame Berry or Stefanski or chief strategy officer Paul DiPodesta for the mess. Many in league circles believe that the idea to chase Watson came from the top. Once they started down that path, they alienated Baker Mayfield. Then, when Watson made the Browns the first team out in a four-way competition between Cleveland, Atlanta, New Orleans, and Carolina, the Browns made Watson an offer he couldn’t refuse.
Right now, the Browns would be far better off if he had.
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