The contract ramifications of Deshaun Watson's injury: guarantees, insurance policy, and future with the Browns

Deshaun Watson's contract was the elephant in the room for the Cleveland Browns this season, with or without the season-ending Achilles injury he suffered on Sunday. The deal, agreed when the Browns acquired him from the Houston Texans in 2022, is one of the most extreme deals in NFL history — if not the most.

It's a fully-guaranteed contract, and the serious injury won't change that. The Browns will still have to pay everything. There are some nuances, though, and the team was smart to protect themselves for this specific case.

Insurance policy

ESPN recently had an article about how NFL teams are using insurance policies to basically create cap space. The money paid for these policies don't count against the salary cap, but there is cap relief in the case a player gets injured.

According to ESPN, the Browns have up to $13.9 million in 2024 and up to $44.2 million in 2025 of Watson's salary insured. It doesn't mean the Browns will receive all this money back, but at least a part of it depending on how many games Watson plays and how the contract is designed for the number of games lost.

Beyond the Browns receiving the money from the insurance policy, the amount is eventually credited back into the team's salary cap — the money from this year will likely get credited in 2025. It's certainly a significant amount for the Browns, even though Watson's contract is still a tough pill to swallow.

What's left

Beyond the insurance policy, the injury doesn't affect how much money the Browns have to pay Deshaun Watson.

He is slated to make $46 million in each of the next two seasons. And as Cleveland has restructured Watson's deal to create cap space over the last couple of years, the cap hits are huge — $72.935 million in each of 2025 and 2026, plus $26.9 million in dead money from a void year in 2027.

Obviously, the Browns might restructure Watson's deal once again in 2025 to reduce the cap number, but that would only make things worse in the following seasons.

Potential out

There isn't a clear out for this type of contract, because the Browns will have to pay Deshaun Watson either way.

Theoretically, though, the Browns can release Watson next offseason.

A normal release is nearly impossible, because the dead money would be $172.77 million — adding $100 million into the 2025 cap. Releasing Watson with a post-June 1st designation is viable, though. The Browns would still have a $72.935 million hit in 2025, and the dead money in 2026 would be $99.835 million. By 2027, there wouldn't be any financial implications anymore.

This is still not a likely scenario at this point, and since the Browns will pay him anyway, it makes sense to keep Deshaun Watson around — at least as a backup quarterback, if the team is able to find a replacement.