CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The moment the Browns agreed to a five year, $230 million fully guaranteed contract with Deshaun Watson, that deal became a salary cap problem for the Browns.
On the surface.
Watson, who is scheduled to make $46 million in each of the four remaining years, carries an NFL-record $54.99 million cap charge for 2023 making his contract a prime restructuring candidate with the Browns currently over the 2023 salary cap by over $14 million.
“It could be on the table, but there's a lot of flexibility in terms of what we can do it from a cap perspective,” Browns executive vice president of football operations Andrew Berry said at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis Wednesday.
Berry confirmed the Browns will release safety John Johnson III, which if given a post June 2 designation would save the team over $9.5 million in cap space but restructuring Watson’s contract could open a massive amount of cap space and flexibility for Berry and the team.
“We look at the cash that we want to spend and then the cap is really an accounting mechanism for that,” Berry said. “The rules are flexible, whether it's releasing a player, trading a player, restructuring a deal, negotiating an exemption. There are a number of different avenues to create cap space and the approach that we would take would really be dictated by the opportunities in front of us.”
Berry admitted that Watson’s contract can affect what they are able to do in terms of roster flexibility, but it does not change how they approach filling offseason needs.
“I've said this a number of times that we really go into each off season as if we have an expansion roster,” Berry said. “We really go through it kind of like need agnostic. How that influences decision making because the reality of it is when you do have an expensive quarterback, you do have a different set of constraints in terms of roster building that may change from year to year, but how we go through the approach and how we go through the preparation that really doesn't change.”
After serving an 11-game suspension as a result of a disciplinary settlement that included a $5 million fine with the NFL amid accusations of sexual misconduct levied in civil lawsuits by over two dozen women while he was a member of the Texans, Watson was largely underwhelming in the six games he played.
Following a 700-day gap between regular season starts, Watson played the final six games of the season and went 3-3 as a starter. He completed 58.2% of his passes for 1,102 yards with seven touchdowns and five interceptions.
“We're very excited about Deshaun,” Berry said. “We are looking forward to continue to evolve the offense over the next several months. Obviously having him have a full off season going into 2023 and certainly expect him to play at a high level this upcoming year.”