For the second straight season, the Cleveland Browns have restructured quarterback Deshaun Watson’s contract.
In doing so, the Browns have taken nearly $45 million of Watson’s base salary into a signing bonus. This bonus will be spread out over multiple years, and the Browns have created $35.832 million in cap space as a result.
As ESPN’s Field Yates mentions in the news break, the Browns now lead the NFL in cap space with $62 million to play around with. While this does give them some flexibility to work with this season, the majority of that $62 million will be used to rollover and help contribute toward their 2025 salary cap hits.
The Browns have restructured the contract of QB Deshaun Watson, converting $44.79M of his 2024 base salary into a signing bonus and creating $35.832M in cap space, per source.
Cleveland now has over $62M in cap space, the most in the entire NFL. pic.twitter.com/KC9hLWQDT8
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) August 29, 2024
This is essentially an interest-free loan for the Browns as the salary cap continues to rise year in and year out. Watson’s contract is fully guaranteed and the deal’s value will never change, however, as the cap rises, the percentage that his cap hit will count against the cap will continue to decrease.
