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The Cleveland Browns may be in the final months of Deshaun Watson's time with the club. He had a rough season debut on Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars, and fans are already calling for him to be replaced as QB 1 on the team's depth chart. The fans aren't the only ones over him; so is a member of ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown, Rex Ryan.
Ryan, the former New York Jets head coach, made a bold claim on the show just ahead of the Browns and Jaguars game: that not only would Watson not be starting for him on Sunday if he were the coach of the Browns, but that he would've cut Watson outright in camp.
Ryan would have only cut him, apparently, due to Watson's press conference where he voiced his displeasure with the Browns' faithful having booed him. Not because of his past behavior or his uneven play.
"No way would I have started him. No way. In fact, I would have cut him," Ryan said. "I mean, that press conference... There's no more important thing than that fan base. No way in hell."
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Ryan's words sound great if you're a Browns fan, but they're extremely shortsighted. In a scenario where Ryan was the decision-maker in Cleveland, the choice to cut Watson would sink the Browns for years to come. Not because of the talent Watson may or may not have anymore, but simply because of the cap hit that his contract carries.
Cutting Deshaun Watson would ruin the Cleveland Browns' cap figure for years to come
Cutting Watson in camp, around the time of his now-notorious presser, would've cost the Browns over $40 million in a cap hit. As the Browns only have about $16.5 million in cap space to play with, cutting Watson would've resulted in only one of two awful options.
The first option would have seen the Browns restructuring the contracts of some of the team's highest-paid players, or cutting them outright in order to be able to clear the cap space needed to absorb the penalty that cutting Watson would cause. It would have likely meant the end of some very good players' time in Cleveland, and would've upset many fans.
The second and more likely option is that Watson's owed money would be further kicked down the road after being cut from the squad. A concept that already has the Browns paying Watson over $136 million over the next four years. All of which will count against the Browns' future caps. Adding another $40 million onto that figure should be seen as a fireable offense, as the Browns will need every bit of that cap space to help turn around a franchise that has struggled to find consistency dating back to 2002, when former team owner Al Lerner passed away.
Ryan likely said what he said as a hot take to stir up some interest in his show and himself. He likely knows a more practical approach would've been to bury Watson on the bench or just send him home. Both options would cost the Browns a lot less financially in the long run, but it's a move that doesn't sound as dramatic for television.
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