{"id":797620,"date":"2026-03-07T04:27:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T04:27:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/797620\/"},"modified":"2026-03-07T04:27:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T04:27:20","slug":"cleveland-browns-adjust-deshaun-watsons-deal-for-fourth-consecutive-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/797620\/","title":{"rendered":"Cleveland Browns Adjust Deshaun Watson\u2019s Deal for Fourth Consecutive Year"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>                <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aiir-c-news-figure__image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/news-1772855280394.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"aiir-c-news-article__abstract\">\n            The Cleveland Browns have modified quarterback Deshaun Watson&#8217;s contract for the fourth year running, reducing his 2026 salary cap impact from $80.7 million to approximately $45 million. Watson, who has faced multiple injuries and suspensions since joining Cleveland, is set to become a free agent after this season.\n        <\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"450\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/news-1772855280394.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-32972\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>Multiple sources confirmed Friday that the Cleveland Browns have modified quarterback Deshaun Watson\u2019s contract arrangement to create additional salary cap flexibility.<\/p>\n<p>This represents the fourth consecutive year Cleveland has adjusted Watson\u2019s deal, reducing his 2026 salary cap impact from $80.7 million down to approximately $45 million while creating nearly $36 million in additional cap room.<\/p>\n<p>When Watson joined Cleveland following his trade from Houston before the 2022 campaign, he signed a five-year agreement worth $230 million in guaranteed money. Following this season, he will enter unrestricted free agency.<\/p>\n<p>Since arriving in Cleveland, Watson has appeared in only 19 contests and recorded 19 touchdown passes, compiling a 9-10 record while dealing with both disciplinary actions and physical setbacks.<\/p>\n<p>The NFL suspended Watson for 11 games during his first season with Cleveland in 2022 due to off-field behavior related to sexual misconduct accusations involving more than 20 massage therapists. Surgery on his left shoulder ended his 2023 campaign early, while a torn Achilles tendon in Week 7 of 2024 sidelined him for the season\u2019s final 10 games.<\/p>\n<p>The 30-year-old quarterback spent the entire previous season rehabilitating from two Achilles procedures but is anticipated to battle with Shedeur Sanders for the starting role. Cleveland also has Dillon Gabriel as a quarterback option on their roster.<\/p>\n<p>                    More from TV Delmarva Channel 33 News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Cleveland Browns have modified quarterback Deshaun Watson&#8217;s contract for the fourth year running, reducing his 2026 salary&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":797621,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2054],"tags":[108477,108478,86,85,54,2337,108471,108479,108473,108474,108472,7,108475,6,108476],"class_list":{"0":"post-797620","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cleveland-browns","8":"tag-102-3","9":"tag-102-3fm","10":"tag-browns","11":"tag-cleveland","12":"tag-cleveland-browns","13":"tag-clevelandbrowns","14":"tag-fine-day","15":"tag-fine-day-102-3","16":"tag-fine-day-fm","17":"tag-fine-day-media","18":"tag-fine-day-radio","19":"tag-football","20":"tag-have-a-fine-day","21":"tag-nfl","22":"tag-weller-radio"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116186005238164869","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=797620"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797620\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/797621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=797620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=797620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=797620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}