Have you ever entered a haunted house, only to realize it's a little scarier than you bargained for? Or, maybe you've embarked on a cross-country road trip, only for it to suddenly hit you that the trek back is going to be as enjoyable as a week-long trip to the dentist. Perhaps you were the brave soul tasked with unclogging a backed-up sink drain.
The common thread here is that, miserable as it may be, there's nowhere to go but forward.
We can agonize endlessly about the ill-fated trade that brought Deshaun Watson to Cleveland four years ago. That dead horse has been beaten to dust, though. The reality of the unfortunate situation is that it's almost reached its painful conclusion.
In the Browns' Week 2 tilt of the preseason against the Buffalo Bills, the boo birds were out before Watson took his first snap. If anyone thought a year-long injury hiatus would wash away the putrid stench that has permeated this situation from the very beginning, bless them. Here's the thing: All involved parties are going to have to forge on for seven more months until this horror story comes to a welcome end.
The Cleveland Browns are effectively stuck with Deshaun Watson until March 11, 2027
While everyone involved — ownership, coaches, fans, Watson himself — wishes this would all come to an end, it's simply not feasible right now. Despite the prevailing talking points, this isn't about the sunk-cost fallacy or ownership's refusal to admit they were wrong. In fact, in a rare candid moment, Browns owner Jimmy Haslam did declare the Watson debacle a swing and a miss.
It also has nothing to do with the organization thinking Watson is capable of a redemption arc. While NFL teams routinely make a mockery of the salary cap with their tomfoolery, the Browns dug themselves into a cavernous hole when they enticed Watson with a fully-guaranteed contract. It was compounded by the fact that he got injured and underperformed as the Browns pushed his cap charges into the future.
As things were masterfully laid out by Jack Duffin of 247 Sports, Watson's contract situation has made things very cut and dried. If Watson is released, as expected, on March 11, 2027, the Browns will incur a dead cap charge of $36 million for the 2027 season and $51.5 million for the 2028 season. However, if Watson is released right now, that entire charge — $87.5 million — would be accelerated onto the 2027 salary cap.
That would be the second-greatest dead cap hit in NFL history behind the Miami Dolphins' $99.2 million hit they took for releasing Tua Tagovailoa early. Unlike the Dolphins and most other teams who have had to cut their losses in such an extreme way, the Browns wouldn't be able to split the damage over two years if they act now.
In other words, Cleveland would have to devote nearly one-third of the $301.2 million salary cap in 2027 to a single player who will not play a snap for the Browns if they can't hold their noses for a few more months. It would be an unmitigated disaster to cut bait now. While some in the NFL space have been stoking the flames of a Watson release, it would come at a considerable cost.
Are Browns fans willing to chalk 2027 up as a lost year, before the 2026 season has even kicked off — simply to send a message? That would be like cutting off your nose to spite your face. It's also worth restating: Watson will get his money from the Browns — the full $46 million in cash remaining in his deal — one way or the other.
Regardless of how one feels about Watson or his off-field history, the Browns entered into a binding commitment of five years and a fully-guaranteed $230 million. There's no escape hatch. In fact, it's precisely the mess NFL owners foresaw, and why they were enraged with the Haslams for signing off on such an agreement in the first place.
The 2027 season should represent a hopeful frontier in which the Browns may begin building around a top-flight rookie quarterback. Adding an extra $51.5 million of cap charges due to impatience would hardly be getting things started on the right foot. That cap space can instead go to offensive linemen, wide receivers, or defenders to make a rookie's inaugural season easier.
While it's difficult to differentiate with so many opinions chiming in on the matter, it's in the Cleveland Browns' best interest to keep Deshaun Watson on the roster through this season. They don't have to play him, they don't even have to have him suit up on game days, but they simply can't release him.
There also remains the possibility that the Browns will orchestrate an agreement similar to the one the Houston Texans did with Watson when his legal situation was playing out in 2021. Houston placed him on the inactive list for the entire season while he stayed away from the team. Of course, all sides need to be amenable, but Watson's viral press conference snafu seems to indicate he'd be on board.
Stay strong, Browns fans. The regional nightmare is almost over. Whatever happens this season, 2027 is shaping up to be the beginning of a new era in Cleveland football.
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