The Cleveland Browns have long been a poorly ran franchise and bottom of the barrel in the NFL. After going 0-16, they selected Baker Mayfield, a Heisman Trophy winning quarterback, first overall and thought he was the answer; even though he led them to one playoff appearance, he was not the answer. They then traded him away, taking a shot at the once highly talented Deshaun Watson. However, that hasn’t worked out either.
The Browns are in quite a sticky situation. Their starting quarterback, Deshaun Watson, has two years left on his contract but is also likely to be out with injury for the 2025-2026 NFL season. The sports world was shocked when the Browns took a chance on Watson after he was suspended a whole year for getting accused of sexual misconduct during a massage session. The Houston Texans, Watson’s former team, decided that they wanted to move on from him as quickly as possible and the Browns decided they were the team to take a chance on him.
When news first broke out that Watson was allegedly a sex offender, no one could believe it as he was a star, and this could derail his career. Then, more and more accusations came about and started to pile up. Watson was accused by more than two dozen women for sexually assaulting them during massage sessions. Even though Watson was cleared by a grand jury for his actions, he still had to serve an 11-game suspension for violating the NFL’s sexual misconduct rules.
Gavin Raitt, a senior at Wharton, commented that “obviously I was pretty disappointed, it’s pretty sad.” Raitt, like many others, was not fond of Watson after the first accusations came about. Watson went from one of the most liked players in the NFL to one of the most disliked in the league.
On March 18, 2022, the Browns traded a plethora of draft picks including three first-rounders for Watson and immediately extended Watson for five years giving him a guaranteed $230 million. At the time, Watson’s deal was one of the largest guaranteed contracts given out in the NFL. The Browns were hoping that he would bounce back to his years when he led the Texans to back-to-back playoff appearances.
The trade has looked nothing but awful for the Browns. Watson has managed to only play in 37% of games through three seasons so far, Watson has been not only dealing with suspensions from the league for violating the league’s sexual assault conduct but has also been dealing with numerous injuries. The future doesn’t look any better as Watson has recently torn his Achilles for a second time and is possibly out for the 2025-2026 season.
Due to Watson’s new injury, the Browns have multiple ways to take care of the problem. The Browns hold the second overall pick in this year’s draft and could take a quarterback if they wish. This would leave them with someone under center for the 2025 season; however, they would have to do something with Watson for the 2026/2027 season.
A trade is unlikely as no team would really want to take on Watson’s contract so they would either have to keep him on the team and could use him as a mentor, or they could cut him which would induce the dead salary north of $100 million.
All 32 teams in the NFL get the same amount of money each year called cap space. This year, each team had cap space of $255.4 million for their team. If a team is over the cap maximum, the team could be fined, have contracts canceled, or even lose draft picks. However, when teams cut a player, they still must pay out any remaining bonuses and guaranteed salary, thus resulting in dead salary.
Alex Johnstone, a senior at Wharton, suggests that the Browns will select “any quarterback, it doesn’t really matter,” implying that they need the QB help immediately. Johnstone believes that the Browns need to move on from Watson immediately.
Overall, the Browns have a rough couple of years ahead of them, but the future could be bright. If they play the draft right, they may have their QB of the future for the next 10+ years, or they could completely mess things up like they have in the past.
Not many teams are in the same boat as the Browns, although, there are some similarities between some. The Falcons also have an aging quarterback, Kirk Cousins, who is on a massive contract. The difference though is that the Falcons already have their young QB and are expected to cut Cousins in the offseason. This is something that the Browns could do if they do decide to draft a QB.
The only team that drafts above the Browns are the Tennessee Titans, who are also in dire need of a quarterback. So, most likely, the Browns will select whoever the Titans don’t take.
The 2025 QB draft class is particularly weak this year so the Browns may opt to draft one of their other team needs in an area that is stronger in the draft class. There will be a top QB free agent in this year’s pool, but with Watson’s contract being so large, it is unlikely to sign him.
The Browns front office has a lot of choices to make this offseason to try to become contenders in a few years, their fans have long been waiting for them to be good and have been disappointed for a while now.