Breaking Down the Cost of a Potential Deshaun Watson Release From Browns

Deshaun Watson is officially the Week 1 starting quarterback for the Cleveland Browns.

The news dropped Monday morning in an almost somber manner for plenty of Browns fans.

Watson looked awful on Saturday in the preseason game against the Buffalo Bills and proceeded to call out Browns fans in his postgame press conference. The vibes were bad, but it didn't make Todd Monken change his mind.

The financials behind Watson also help explain this decision.

The cost of releasing Deshaun Watson in 2026

The Browns would likely move on from Watson if they could. That is just an impossible task given all the restructuring done to accomodate his massive contract.

Spotrac broke down the situation in plain terms.

Cutting Deshaun Watson right now cripples the #Browns with an $86,206,864 dead cap hit for 2027.

The largest cap hit in NFL history:
Tua Tagovailoa, $55.4M (2026)
— Spotrac (@spotrac) August 24, 2026

The Browns would be saddled with an $86.2 million dead cap hit in 2027 if they were to cut Watson now. That is an extreme amount and would limit any sense of team-building around a new, rookie quarterback.

The situation only gets more bizarre with further investigation. Per Spotrac, the Browns have a "poison pill" in the contract that ensures Watson will be cut in March. Specifically, before March 13.

Deshaun Watson's contract contains a built-in poison pill.

If he's on the roster next March 13th, a $200M salary guarantee kicks in.

This affords Cleveland the opportunity to designate him a Post 6/1 release before 3/13, which splits the remaining dead cap into:

2027: $34.6M…
— Spotrac (@spotrac) August 24, 2026

If Watson is still on the team on March 13, 2027, a $200 million salary is activated. That is a ludicrous clause and one that will never see the light of day. Instead, the team can cut him and spread out the dead-cap hit between 2027-2028. The big hit comes in 2028 at $51.5 million.

The Browns have been making moves for years all focused on kicking the negative impacts of this contract down the road and into the future. Well, the future is nearly here and the team may be starting Watson just to see if they can get any value out of him at all. That seems unlikely as we are entering the fifth year of his Browns tenure.

There does appear to be some competitive logic behind Watson getting the starting job over Shedeur Sanders. The Browns start on the road against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 1 before staying in Florida and taking on Baker Mayfield and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 2. Going with Watson protects Sanders in a way and if the team starts 0-2, Shedeur can swoop in as the savior and start the home opener.

Of course, Monken is hoping the team starts 2-0 and puts this conversation behind them. How Watson plays may ultimately determine how long Monken remains in his job, whether that is fair or not. What we do know for sure is that no matter what happens, Watson is going to be cut before March 13, 2027.

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