Deshaun Watson has the highest guaranteed contract in NFL history, but the team now needs to find ways to get around it. Cleveland signed Deshaun Watson to a fully guaranteed five-year, $230 million contract, breaking records for the amount of guaranteed money.
During a media session at the NFL Combine, general manager Andrew Berry said “there’s a lot of flexibility in terms of what we can do” and remained open to the idea of a contract restructure.
Currently, according to Spotrac, the Browns are $14 million over the salary cap and will need to be in the clear by the time free agency begins on March 15th.
Luckily for him, his quarterback appears to be fine with doing something.
According to Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com, Watson “is open to restructuring his contract over the next week to help the Browns get under the salary cap, and to clear some space to add quality veterans via free agency or trades.”
Watson’s cap hit for each of the next four seasons is $54.9 million.
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Players like Myles Garrett and Amari Cooper could also be candidates to have their deals restructured.
The Browns are coming off a 7-10 campaign, which ranked last in the AFC North. Watson missed the first 11 games of the season while serving a suspension for violating the NFL’s conduct policy following sexual assault and misconduct allegations. During his six appearances, he threw for 1,102 yards, seven touchdowns and five interceptions.
His play was expected for a guy who missed two years of playing. With a full offseason, the team is hoping he can get back to the player he was when he played in Houston.
