{"id":1550931,"date":"2023-02-21T11:53:06","date_gmt":"2023-02-21T16:53:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/?p=1550931"},"modified":"2023-02-21T11:53:07","modified_gmt":"2023-02-21T16:53:07","slug":"deshaun-watson-contract-browns-230m-mistake-keeps-hurting-historic-cap-hit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/deshaun-watson-contract-browns-230m-mistake-keeps-hurting-historic-cap-hit\/","title":{"rendered":"Browns' $230M Deshaun Watson Contract Mistake Keeps on Hurting With Historic Cap Hit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/tag\/cleveland-browns\/\">Cleveland Browns<\/a>\u00a0mortgaged their future last offseason by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/deshaun-watson-traded-cleveland-browns\/\">trading for quarterback<\/a>\u00a0Deshaun Watson. The team gave up three first-round picks (2022, 2023, 2024) and two later-round picks for the QB and gave him the biggest fully-guaranteed contract in NFL history. The\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/browns-already-wasted-45-million-deshaun-watson-230-million-disaster-isnt-out-question\/\">ramifications of this trade<\/a>\u00a0are starting to hit the Browns in multiple ways, including the biggest cap hit in NFL history at $54.9 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-the-deshaun-watson-contract\"><strong>The Deshaun Watson contract<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">never before has an NFL player\u2019s cap hit exceeded $39M<br><br>that all changes this year<br><br>Deshaun Watson&#39;s $54,993,000 cap hit in 2023 will be the largest for any player in NFL history<br><br>Watson will hit the Browns\u2019 cap for the same $54,993,000 every single season thru 2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/1ub6nwe4f5\">pic.twitter.com\/1ub6nwe4f5<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SharpFootball\/status\/1627723916947882007?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 20, 2023<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The Browns went all-in last offseason to get Deshaun Watson to Cleveland. In addition to giving up a ton of draft capital, the team also rewarded the QB with the largest fully-guaranteed contract in NFL history despite Watson facing an 11-game suspension for\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/real-sports-expose-encouraged-23rd-accuser-sue-deshaun-watson-his-behavior-grew-worse\/\">20-plus allegations<\/a>\u00a0of sexual misconduct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Deshaun Watson contract is a fully-guaranteed five-year, $230,000,000 contract with a $44,965,000 signing bonus and an average annual value of $46,000,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To put that in perspective, the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/kyler-murray-contract-how-long-cardinals-stuck-with-star-qb\/\">next highest guarantee<\/a>\u00a0in the NFL right now is Arizona Cardinals QB Kyler Murray at $189.5 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For the 2022 season, the Browns also suspension-proofed Watson\u2019s deal, dropping his base salary to $402,500 and converting the rest to signing bonus so that a suspension wouldn\u2019t cost him millions. It\u2019s why the league added a $5 million fine to the QB\u2019s suspension.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2023, the Deshaun Watson contract will pay the signal-caller $46,000,000 in base salary and $8,993,000 in prorated signing bonus. That works out to a $54,993,000 cap hit and a $219,972,000 dead cap figure. The $54.9 million cap hit is by far the biggest in NFL history at 21.79% of the team\u2019s 2023 salary cap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The previous largest cap hit was Ryan Tannehill\u2019s $38.6 million in 2021, and before that, it was Jimmy Garoppolo\u2019s $37 million in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is worth noting that the Browns can restructure the deal now and for the next few seasons, where the Deshaun Watson cap hit is again $54.9 million. However, while that could drop the 2023 cap hit to as low as $21.3 million, it just pushes the salary cap issues down the road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And for what?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What the Browns get for $230 million<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1250\" height=\"703\" src=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Deshaun-Watson-cap-hit-1.jpg?w=925&#038;strip=all&#038;quality=89\" alt=\"Deshaun Watson contract, Deshaun Watson, Cleveland Browns, cap hit\" class=\"wp-image-1550936\" \/><figcaption>Deshaun Watson | Scott Taetsch\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>What have the Browns got so far for their $230 million investment?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To start, they\u2019ve earned the ire of every other NFL team. The Deshaun Watson contract reset the quarterback contract market, and the Baltimore Ravens are currently paying the price in their Lamar Jackson negotiations. The Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angles Chargers are next up to be mad at the Browns as the Joe Burrow and Justin Herbert extensions come due.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On the field, the Browns earned a 4-7 record during the Watson suspension and a 3-3 record once he came back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In those six games, the rust on Watson \u2014 who sat out nearly two years \u2014 was evident. The career 67.8% passer was 99-of-170 this season for a horrible 58.2% completion rate. Overall, he threw for 183.7 yards per game with seven touchdowns and five interceptions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maybe Watson will bounce back with a full offseason and be the Pro Bowl quarterback he was in Houston. That said, without a first-round pick for the next two years and major potential salary cap issues on the horizon because of the Deshaun Watson contract, it\u2019s going to be an uphill battle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And in the end, trading for Watson will likely be a $230 mistake for the Browns.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The cap hit in 2023 for the Deshaun Watson contract is historic and just another reason the Browns made a $230 million mistake. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":1550936,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[4930,22486],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.3 (Yoast SEO v22.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Deshaun Watson Contract: Browns&#039; $230M Mistake Brings Historic Cap Hit - Sports7<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The cap hit in 2023 for the Deshaun Watson contract is historic and just another reason the Browns made a $230 million mistake.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/deshaun-watson-contract-browns-230m-mistake-keeps-hurting-historic-cap-hit\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Deshaun Watson Contract: Browns&#039; 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