Head coach Kevin Stefanski delivered an update on the Deshaun Watson situation on Tuesday, and it hit like an early Christmas present for Cleveland Browns fans.
The Browns decided to let Watson’s 21-day practice window expire, meaning he will remain on the reserve/physically unable to perform list for the remainder of the 2025 league year.
"He's done a great job with everything that's been asked of him," Stefanski told reporters Tuesday. "I've gotten to see him work so hard, whether it's in the training room, by himself in the indoor with the trainers, on the practice field now for the last bit. Just felt like this was the right decision for him and for us. His focus will continue to be to help this football team and continue to get healthy and get stronger and all those types of things."
That’s music to the ears of Browns fans, who have zero interest in seeing Watson trot onto the field over these final two games of the regular season, even in the off chance that both Shedeur Sanders and Dillon Gabriel suffer injuries.
Watson’s roster spot this season was always directly connected to 2026. The team already named Sanders the starter for the rest of this year, and Watson hasn’t played in a game since Week 7 of 2024. The team could’ve added him to the active roster this week solely to allow him to continue practicing, while mitigating any PR damage with fans by designating him as the emergency QB3 on game days.
The decision to shut him down completely, however, could signal something bigger happening in the not so distant future.
Browns’ Deshaun Watson move may foreshadow a future fans have wanted
As NFL insider Adam Schefter reported earlier this season, Watson is expected to be on the Browns’ roster to start the 2026 league year. That’s really more about math than it is the future of Cleveland’s franchise, though.
Watson’s contract voids in 2027, per Spotrac, but because his original five-year, $230 deal was fully guaranteed, it’s complicated from a salary cap standpoint. He’s owed a $46 million salary next season, but his cap hit, due to previous restructures, is scheduled to be an NFL-high $80.7 million.
The Browns only have so many options, and cutting Watson outright isn’t one of them. According to Schefter, releasing Watson would incur a record $131 million in dead cap charges.
The most feasible way to move on from Watson would be to release him with a post-June 1 designation. NFL teams can use two of those designations at the start of each league year; the Browns would still be on the hook for Watson’s full salary, but the post-June 1 caveat would allow the dead-cap charges to be spread out over two years. Per ESPN, the hits would be $80 million in 2026, and $50 million in 2027.
Door No. 3 would be to keep Watson on the roster for the entire 2026 season, similar to what the Atlanta Falcons did with Kirk Cousins’ bad contract this year. The Browns could explore further restructures and injury insurance for some marginal cap relief, but that move would only kick the can down the road, and force the team to manage cap dollars to Watson beyond 2027 in the form of void years.
The silver lining of this 2025 Browns season is the play of their young players, especially from their most recent draft class. They currently hold 10 more draft picks in 2026 to continue infusing the roster with cheap, ascending talent.
There’s only one door Browns fans are begging their team to kick open — and that’s to rip off the Band-Aid, end the madness, and use a post-June 1 designation to finally move on from the worst trade acquisition and contract in franchise (and NFL) history. The Denver Broncos did with Russell Wislon’s $85 million in dead-cap charges in 2024, drafted a first-round quarterback, and one year later are leading the pack for the AFC’s No. 1 playoff seed the week of Christmas.
The Browns did right by their fans by couching the Watson storyline for at least another couple of months. Their next move may be painful from a financial standpoint, but it’s the medicine that needs to be taken to finally move on once and for all.