The Cleveland Browns have restructured the contract of quarterback Deshaun Watson, a team source confirmed, creating about $35 million in 2024 salary-cap space and increasing future cap commitments on the five-year deal he signed in 2022.
They’ve also trimmed the quarterback room down to three by releasing veteran backup Tyler Huntley, according to league sources.
Watson is now slated to play at a cap number of $72.9 million in both 2025 and 2026. The restructure also pushes the dead money in 2027 on Watson’s deal to around $27 million.
Mostly, the Watson restructure is standard business for the Browns. The initial contract fully guaranteed Watson $230 million, but it gave the team rolling permission to re-work the structure of the deal at any time it needed or wanted to for salary-cap reasons.
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The Browns under general manager Andrew Berry have been pushing cap money forward and taking on dead money since before they acquired Watson. This strategy is designed to take advantage of the fast-rising salary cap at what amounts to a zero-interest loan, and in some cases — like this one — Cleveland has re-worked the same player’s contract multiple times.
With the Browns going to a league-high $62 million in cap space, they maintain the flexibility to make more moves over the next couple of months in what’s a win-now window for the team. But Spotrac had the Browns around $62 million over the estimated cap for 2025 earlier this week, so with the annual cap rollover, this move puts Cleveland just above water for the start of the 2025 league year.
Watson’s previously listed cap number of $63.9 million for 2024 would have been a record, and the Browns had previously maneuvered their cap to give themselves enough offseason flexibility without this latest restructure. But now they’re thinking about future years with the rollover while finalizing preparations for the season.
In July, the Browns used up-front cash to fully guarantee the 2024 salary of wide receiver Amari Cooper while pushing most of the cap commitments to the next two seasons — when Cooper is not under contract. That move combined with this Watson restructure got the Browns to around $62 million in free space, most of which will be rolled over to future years.
As for Huntley, he was outplayed in camp by second-year passer Dorian Thompson-Robinson. The Browns explored trades involving all three of their backup quarterbacks — Jameis Winston, Huntley and Thompson-Robinson — but weren’t able to find a deal, so the release is not a surprise. The Browns needed the roster spot to address other areas.
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