NFL Rumors: Deshaun Watson, Browns Rework Contract; Adds $35.8M in salary cap space | News, scores, highlights, stats and rumours

Despite not being in a salary cap crisis until the 2024 season, the Cleveland Browns restructured Deshaun Watson’s contract to free up cap space.

According to ESPN’s Field Yates, the Browns converted $44.8 million of Watson’s base salary into a signing bonus to create $35.8 million in cap space.

Yates noted that the Browns now have $62 million in NFL cap space.

On Over the Cap, the Browns had $15.8 million in cap space before Watson’s contract restructuring. NFL rules allow teams to carry over their unused cap space from one season to the following year.

ESPN’s Daniel Oyefusi noted that the Browns, who were already projected to have $44 million over the cap in 2025, expect to carry over the “majority” of their cap space from this season to next year.

Amari Cooper, Elijah Moore, Nick Chubb and Jedrick Wills are among the notable Browns players who can become free agents after this season.

It’s worth noting that Cleveland chose to adjust Watson’s deal given his struggles on the field since joining the team.

Opting out of his contract at any point would have been difficult anyway, as it was $230 million fully guaranteed, but this all but ensures he’ll serve out the entire five-year contract due to the team’s extreme hitting. would absorb if they traded him or released him.

Watson played in just six games in each of his first two seasons with the Browns. He was suspend by the NFL for the first 11 games of the 2022 campaign as part of a settlement with the NFL Players Association stemming from allegations of sexual assault and sexual misconduct by more than two dozen women during massage sessions.

A shoulder injury that required surgery limited Watson to six games in 2023. He threw for 2,217 yards, 14 touchdowns, nine interceptions and completed 59.8 percent of his attempts in 12 games for the Browns.

The Browns went 11-6 and made the playoffs for the first time since 2020 last season. They will open the 2024 campaign on September 8 at home against the Dallas Cowboys.