I'm going to level with you, the reader, at the onset of this piece. I know you're sick of hearing about Deshaun Watson.
The Cleveland Browns alienated the closest thing to a franchise QB they have had since the turn of the century for an (at the time) excellent player with an extremely checkered and troubling past. Said player proceeded to seemingly lose all of his football ability, while the guy he replaced initially struggled a bit before flourishing elsewhere.
The Browns, America's underdog after decades of futility, suddenly became public enemy number one. You sold the soul of your franchise for that guy? At least when people hate on the Chiefs, they can cry into their Super-Bowl-ringed hands, with the glimmer of the Lombardi trophy illuminating the backdrop.
Browns fans have nothing to show for the Watson era - what's worse is the bloated contract the front office insisted on giving him, $240 million, fully guaranteed, will continue to torment the team for years to come. But, the football gods have decided to throw the Dawg Pound a bone, in the form of an insurance policy, let me explain.
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So to begin with, when a player signs a contract, every dollar that's paid needs to hit the salary cap at some point. Yes, there are gymnastics involved, with void years, restructurings, and signing bonuses, but for a basic explanation, Watson is guaranteed $240 million, so, $240 million will eventually hit the cap. To this point, the Browns have only accounted for $135 million of that on their cap.
That means, over the coming years, the Browns will still need to account for $105 million, despite the fact that we're all pretty sure Watson's time in Cleveland is up. Here's where an interesting wrinkle could make a huge difference for the Browns.
Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk got ahold of Watson's contract and discovered an addendum that allowed the Browns to take out an insurance policy on Watson.
The policy would go into effect if Watson suffered an injury that prevented him from being able to fulfill the duties outlined in his contract. The Browns would potentially be able to collect half of the money paid last season (for the time he was injured), plus the entirety of his 2025 compensation.
So maybe now you're wondering: who cares? The billionaire owners of an NFL team get to save a few million bucks, whoop-dee-doo.
But here's why you will care: the Cleveland Browns would receive a salary cap credit that allows them to spend more on the actual roster then they would otherwise be able to. It's essentially like the contract got reduced by roughly $55 million, if the insurance company pays out.
Salary cap credit could be handed to Browns
Joel Corry, a former NFL agent, who does tons of great work explaining things from the unique standpoint of an agent, went into this subject for CBS Sports after the initial achilles tear. Absent is an update after Watson re-tore his achilles in January, allowing the Browns to potentially collect a much more impactful sum.
In other words, if the insurance policy is collected upon, the 2026 Cleveland Browns available cap space could see an infusion of roughly $55 million. While it won't help the 2025 campaign, it minimizes the impact of the Deshaun Watson divorce.
According to Overthecap, the Browns are currently slated to have the 3rd least effective cap space in the NFL in 2026, at negative $22.9 million. It's easy to see how a $55 million infusion would be immensely impactful, getting the Browns out of the negative and with a much better shot at building around what all Browns fans hope is a franchise QB.
While it seems pretty cut and dry, Florio does warn Browns fans about the tendency of insurance companies to find a way out of their obligations. No payout = no salary cap relief. So, in addition to rooting for the Browns every week of the season, root for the insurance company to pay out the full amount, which would be the best case scenario for the Cleveland Browns.