We are in week 5 of the NFL 2025 season, and the Cleveland Browns have only a single victory in their win column after stumbling in four games. They have suffered a humiliating defeat against the Detroit Lions, 34-10, and ended up sending fan favorite, veteran QB Joe Flacco, to the division rival Cincinnati Bengals. Everything is going in the wrong direction for the Browns, but it wasn’t like they entered the season on positive notes, as they got the major blowback in January with QB Deshaun Watson‘s news. 

Deshaun Watson suffered a torn Achilles tendon back in Week 7 of the 2024 season, and then he ruptured it again in January 2025 during his rehabilitation. This was a major blow for the Browns. But that’s only one side of Watson’s status as the Browns’ head coach; Kevin Stefanski has to deal with another aspect of Watson. 

Since signing his massive five-year, fully guaranteed $230 million deal, Deshaun Watson’s contract has undergone multiple restructures that created a catastrophic salary cap situation. The Browns now face over $131 million in dead cap during the 2026 season with Watson on the roster.

If Cleveland releases Watson after June 1st next March, the dead cap damage spreads across two years – $80.5 million in 2026 and $50.4 million in 2027. These figures represent some of the worst dead cap hits in NFL history and would severely hamper the Browns’ roster-building capacity. Which means a total of $130.9 million hit.

Browns owner Jimmy Haslam called the Watson investment “a big swing and miss,” publicly acknowledging the deal’s failure. While the contract was questionable from inception, given Watson’s off-field issues and performance concerns, repeated restructures to free up short-term cap space for other players exponentially worsened the long-term financial burden.

The Browns essentially doubled down on their initial mistake by kicking cap charges down the road through restructures, prioritizing immediate roster flexibility over future financial health. Now Cleveland faces years of crippling dead money that will limit their ability to sign free agents, extend current players, or build a competitive roster. All while getting minimal on-field production from their franchise quarterback investment.

It started with his first contract restructuring in March 2023, when the team converted $44.92 million of his 2023 salary into a signing bonus. This was done to free up approximately $35.8 million in salary cap space and provide the Browns with more salary flexibility. But this was just the start of a series of restructurings that will continue until 2025. They did it again in August 2024, as the Browns converted $44.79 million of his 2024 salary into a signing bonus to clear $35.832 million in cap space. 

The latest salary restructuring was done in March 2025 when the Browns converted $44.745 million of his salary into a signing bonus. This move brought down Watson’s 2025 cap figure by $35.796 million and increased his 2026 and 2027 cap figures by $8.949 million each season. These regular contract restructurings might have given the Browns capital flexibility for the 2023, 2024, and 2025 seasons, but they have created a huge financial burden for the team over the next two years. What makes this financial blow worse is Watson’s current status. 

Watson’s latest update doesn’t look promising 

In August, Cleveland placed Watson on the reserve/physically unable to perform list due to his ruptured Achilles tendon. The PUP designation automatically sidelined Watson for at least the first four regular-season games of 2025.

Recent updates have compounded the Browns’ problems beyond the initial four-game absence. The extended recovery timeline not only keeps Watson off the field longer but also prolongs Cleveland’s inability to evaluate whether their franchise quarterback can return to his previous form.

Ahead of the Browns’ matchup with the Pittsburgh Steelers, news emerged that Watson would not be participating in practice. As he goes through the rehabilitation process, he will remain on the PUP list as of now, as reported by Browns writer Scott Petrak. He tweeted, “Browns won’t be opening practice window for Deshaun Watson this week. He remains on PUP as he rehabs from twice ruptured Achilles tendon” on 6th October. 

News from Watson’s side, both financial and physical, doesn’t look promising for the Browns. Right from his $131 million financial strain to Watson not returning soon, the Watson-Browns thing isn’t working out from any angle.