The Cleveland Browns made the expected move on Friday to restructure quarterback Deshaun Watson’s contract, reduce his massive $80.7 million salary cap hit and clear around $36 million in much-needed cap space with the start of 2026 free agency looming next week.
This was all part of GM Andrew Berry’s offseason plan, as the team was never going to carry the NFL’s largest singular-player cap charge into the new league year. And while this one move makes the Browns cap compliant, they’re far from finished.
Cleveland has another obvious contract restructure to consider with Denzel Ward, who's set to carry the team’s second-highest 2026 cap charge at $32.9 million. There’s been plenty of speculation around Ward’s immediate future with the team as a potential cap casualty, but none of that was ever rooted in reality, and per Daniel Oyefusi of ESPN, the Browns’ perennial Pro Bowl cornerback isn’t going anywhere.
Oyefusi reported that the Browns are next expected to explore a Ward restructure, which could clear the team an additional $13.5 million in cap space, piggybacking off the Watson move.
“A restructure to Denzel Ward's contract is also expected to come soon, per source,” Oyefusi wrote. “The Browns have frequently restructured contracts, converting salaries to bonuses and spreading out the charges to free immediate cap space. GM Andrew Berry said the Browns will have "ample" cap space this offseason.”
The Watson restructure made the Browns cap compliant. Their upcoming move with Ward would put them firmly in play to land some impact free agents, particularly at key positional needs like interior offensive line, wide receiver, tight end, defensive back, and linebacker.
Denzel Ward could be Browns’ next cap move before free agency
As Oyefusi noted, this is how the Browns have done business during the Berry era, and they’re fully immersed in the strategy at this point. The NFL salary cap can be easily manipulated if an owner is willing to spend real cash, and to his credit, Jimmy Haslam has spent more real money on player contracts than any of the league’s other 31 owners over the past five years.
The notion that the Browns are screwing themselves in future years has some merit, but it’s also been overblown. They’re currently planning to take on dead-cap hits for Watson in both 2027 ($34.6 million) and 2028 ($51.5 million), and will likely do so with Ward in the future (only to a much lesser extent).
None of that will preclude the team from building the roster in the early years of the Todd Monken era. The Browns will be in a much better cap situation in 2027 (currently projected at around $100 million in space, per Over the Cap), and given the current trajectory and growth of the NFL’s cap number each year, the team should be able to plan for Watson’s $51.1 million cap charge in 2028 accordingly.
The three first-round draft picks Cleveland gave up to acquire Watson in 2022 have hurt the team much more than the $230 million contract it signed him to. The contract didn’t stop them from extending both Ward and Myles Garrett in recent years, and it won’t stop them from being aggressive on top-to-middle-tier free agents — like Ravens center Tyler Linderbaum, perhaps? — when the frenzy kicks off next week.
Addressing Watson’s contract was the first step from a cap standpoint, but this next move with Ward could speak volumes on how the team plans to approach Monken's first year.