CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Browns will be restructuring quarterback Deshaun Watson's contract, a source confirmed to News 5's Camryn Justice.
The restructuring will create $35.8 million in cap space for the upcoming season.
At the end of the 2024 season, the team restructured Watson's contract to ease salary cap tensions in the upcoming seasons.
Watson's restructure at the end of the season was expected not to be the last, with the $72.935 million cap hit set to occur in 2025 not addressed under this contract rework.
Watson, who was given a five-year $230 million deal after the Browns traded for him in 2021, sustained a season-ending Achilles injury in Week 7 of last season.
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Before thAT injury, Watson and the Browns offense struggled greatly.
Watson trailed the league in total quarterback rating (QBR) through the first six games, with the Browns ranked last in the NFL for total yards per game at that point of the year.
In the last three seasons, Watson has been widely unavailable.
First, it was an 11-game suspension stemming for violating the league's personal conduct policy after dozens of allegations of sexual misconduct were filed against him. Then it was a season-ending shoulder injury that saw him miss 11 games in the 2023 season. Last year, it was the Achilles injury.
