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5 hours ago
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Just over three years ago the Cleveland Browns took the NFL by storm and came out of nowhere to make a trade for Deshaun Watson. At the time the deal was announced everyone was shocked, and then the $230 fully guaranteed contract was announced, and we knew exactly why the Browns were chosen.
That $230 million has since bought nine wins, two Achilles tears, and a ton of animosity among fans. The sentiment has also been that the Watson contract wrecked the Browns for decades because of the money spent. While it certainly ruined a few seasons, the Browns have already got themselves more than $17 million under the cap for the 2025 season.
The big number comes next year, when the current structure of the Watson deal has a cap hit of $46 million. However, it’s fully expected that both sides will move on before the 2026 season. The Browns will most likely take the brunt of the cap hit in 2026 for Watson and restructure others to have a lesser impact.
Stars like Denzel Ward and Myles Garrett who still have multiple years of service left will be restructured with salaries converted to bonuses and cap hits pushed down the road to future years. You also have guys like Wyatt Teller, Greg Newsome, and David Njoku who have the next three biggest hits on the team.
Teller and Newsome have both had down years and have minimal dead cap tied to them, and David Njoku has been the talk of a new contract which would allow Berry to manipulate the cap and push the bulk of his money beyond 2026.
There are two major keys to this. One, the NFL cap is going to continue to go up. It’s one of the most popular sports in the world and the dollars keep coming in. Second, no matter what you think of Jimmy and Dee Haslem, they aren’t afraid to spend money. Since 2021 they have spent the most money in the NFL by letting Berry get creative with the cap.
After three years of watching the Watson era epically fail, don’t lose sleep about the cap moving forward. The Browns still have plenty of ways to spend money.
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