Following Deshaun Watson’s injury, his Browns contract has the potential to be one of (if not the) worst NFL contracts in history.
Deshaun Watson of the Cleveland Browns has been ruled out for the season due to a shoulder injury, putting him at 12 of a possible 34 games since signing a massive contract extension with the team in the offseason of 2022. Watson’s contract is starting to look like the worst in NFL history, with over $90 million paid out for these 12 games and another $135-plus million left on his fully guaranteed pact.
The Browns traded three first-round picks and six total selections to the Houston Texans in March 2022 for Watson. The quarterback, who was suspended for 11 games to begin his first season in Cleveland, had a no-trade clause that he only waived after the Browns gave him a fully guaranteed $230 million contract extension, the first of its kind in the NFL.
Aside from missing games, Watson’s play and stats have been poor since moving to Cleveland. He has a solid 8-4 record as a starter for the Browns, but he has a terrible 59.8% completion rate with 2,217 yards, 14 touchdowns, and nine interceptions.
Between the guaranteed money, the lack of playing time, the average (at best) stats, and the massive amount of cap space his contract consumes, ESPN senior NFL reporter Dan Graziano concludes that “unless Watson leads them to a Super Bowl title in one of the final three years of the deal, this has a good chance to go down as the worst trade and/or signing in NFL history.”
Leave a Reply