{"id":798101,"date":"2026-03-07T09:20:24","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T09:20:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/798101\/"},"modified":"2026-03-07T09:20:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T09:20:24","slug":"browns-free-up-36-million-from-deshaun-watsons-massive-cap-hit-in-telling-sign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/798101\/","title":{"rendered":"Browns free up $36 million from Deshaun Watson&#8217;s massive cap hit in telling sign"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Browns just made their Deshaun Watson catastrophe a little bit better.<\/p>\n<p>Cleveland.com reported Friday the Browns <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cleveland.com\/browns\/2026\/03\/browns-restructuring-deshaun-watsons-contract-today-to-reduce-his-80m-cap-charge.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">are restructuring Watson\u2019s contract<\/a> in a move that will clear nearly $36 million in cap space, halting what would have been a league-high $80.7 million cap hit for 2026.<\/p>\n<p>A hefty portion of the $46 million base salary the controversial quarterback is owed for 2026 is being converted into a restructured bonus up to $44.745 million, per the report.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.46915352;display:block\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38698985\" width=\"867\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1626024002.jpg\" alt=\"Football player Deshaun Watson, in a white jersey with the number 4 and an orange helmet, throws a football.\" class=\"wp-image-38698985\"  \/>Deshaun Watson has played just 19 games across three active seasons with the Browns. Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>The Watson era has been an utter disaster for the Browns, with the quarterback \u2014 who agreed to a five-year, fully guaranteed deal worth $230 million \u2014 appearing in just 19 games for Cleveland since being traded by the Texans in 2022. <\/p>\n<p>The former first-round pick, who served an 11-game suspension in 2022 stemming from sexual misconduct allegations, missed all of the 2025 season as he recovered from an Achilles injury.<\/p>\n<p>Even as Browns owner Jimmy Haslam <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/03\/31\/sports\/browns-admit-defeat-on-230m-deshaun-watson-disaster-swing-and-miss\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">admitted a \u201cswing and miss\u201d on the Watson acquisition<\/a>, first-year coach Todd Monken is looking forward to seeing the QB back in action.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38698956\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AP_Deshaun_Watson_Lawsuits_Football_75064-5a878-0.jpg\" alt=\"Deshaun Watson in a gray hoodie with a Browns helmet logo.\" class=\"wp-image-38698956\"  \/>Before heading to Cleveland, Deshaun Watson was a three-time Pro Bowl quarterback. AP<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnytime that you have a player that at one time has exhibited the skill set at an elite level,\u201d Monken said last month. \u201cI think you\u2019re always going to give them the benefit of the doubt that somehow we might be able to get that out of him again, and I think that\u2019s how you should look at every player.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Monken, the former Ravens\u2019 offensive coordinator, <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/02\/25\/sports\/how-todd-monken-is-approaching-browns-qb-battle-with-shedeur-sanders-holding-elite-trait\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">said the team will have an open quarterback competition<\/a> between Watson, Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders.<\/p>\n<p>Gabriel and Sanders were selected by the Browns in last year\u2019s NFL draft, and both started under center.<\/p>\n<p>Watson, a Pro Bowler during his time with the Texans, has yet to throw for more than 1,200 yards or seven touchdowns in a season in Cleveland.<\/p>\n<p>The Browns finished the 2025 season at 5-12.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Browns just made their Deshaun Watson catastrophe a little bit better. Cleveland.com reported Friday the Browns are&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":798102,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[54,563,7,6,9,20189],"class_list":{"0":"post-798101","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-cleveland-browns","9":"tag-deshaun-watson","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-nfl","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-sports-contracts"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116187158482224658","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798101","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=798101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798101\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/798102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=798101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=798101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=798101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}