National Football League

The $230M problem: Browns weighed down by a struggling Deshaun Watson

Updated Oct. 3, 2024 4:54 p.m. ET

Kevin Stefanski thought his quarterback "played well" on Sunday. He praised him for making "good decisions." He insisted he made "some really good plays." The coach even made it clear he thinks the Cleveland Browns have bigger problems than their quarterback.

But they really don't. The Browns' Deshaun Watson problem is as massive as his ridiculous contract.

And there's nothing they can do about either one.

That's the unfortunate reality they're facing in Cleveland, where the Browns are a disappointing 1-3 and Watson — in Year 3 of his fully guaranteed, five-year, $230 million contract — is playing like the worst quarterback in the NFL. In fact, statistically, that's exactly what he is. He ranks dead last among starters in adjusted quarterback rating (QBR).

Last Sunday, in a 20-16 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders, he played "well" enough to throw for just 176 yards (on 24 of 32 passing). He has yet to throw for more than 200 yards in a game, four games into this season. He's only thrown four touchdown passes. And he's running the second-worst offense in the NFL (246.3 yards per game) and the only one that hasn't topped 300 yards in a single game this year.

It's not all his fault — the Browns have been battered by injuries, especially along the offensive line, and their receivers lead the NFL in dropped passes — but there's no denying that Watson's struggles are a huge part of their struggles. He's the one, after all, that was supposed to raise the rest of his team up.

But the Browns' real problem is this: They're stuck with Watson for another 2 ¾ years. Thanks to one of the craziest contracts ever given out in sports — not to mention the three first-round picks and third- and fourth-round picks they traded to the Texans for the privilege of paying him — they have no choice but to keep playing Watson for the foreseeable future, no matter how bad things get.

"They obviously knew they'd be stuck with him when they got him, but they assumed he'd be the player he was in Houston," said one rival general manager. "He was becoming a great player in Houston. Really dynamic in a lot of ways.

"He looks nothing like that player now."

That was always the risk when Browns owner Jimmy Haslam pursued Watson and eventually gave in to his demands for what still seems like an unfathomable deal to many around the league. Another good word for that deal is "unconscionable" considering Watson was facing civil lawsuits from 22 women at the time, accusing him of sexual abuse and misconduct. Nobody around the league could believe that a player under that kind of grotesque cloud could be the recipient of the largest fully guaranteed contract in NFL history, even if he was a 26-year-old budding star.

But Haslam didn't care. He just wanted to win. He saw the 4,823 yards and 33 touchdowns Watson threw for in 2020 — his last season as a starter in Houston. He decided that trumped everything else. He didn't care that the scandals and accusations were so bad that the Texans just decided not to let Watson play for the entire 2021 season, then traded away what was once a valuable commodity. He decided he could stomach it all for the chance that Watson could put up big numbers for the Browns.

So it's hard to feel bad for him. And maybe this is just karma. Whatever it is, though, it's a problem that's not going away. Watson doesn't look anything like the player he once was, nor has he looked that way at any point during his three seasons with the Browns. It hasn't helped that he missed 11 games while serving his well-earned suspension during his first season in Cleveland and then missed another 11 with a fractured shoulder last year.

But even in the 12 games he did play in those two years, he wasn't back to his old Houston form. In 16 total starts with the Browns, he's thrown for just 2,944 yards and 18 touchdowns with 12 interceptions. And now he's being outplayed — at least statistically — by everyone, including quarterbacks like Tennessee's Will Levis and Denver's struggling rookie Bo Nix.

But there's literally nothing the Browns can do about it other than cross their fingers and hope he magically gets better. They know they can't bench him. It's part of the reason they didn't bring Joe Flacco back after he led them to the playoffs with a 4-1 run at the end of last season in Watson's absence. They couldn't have a preferable option looming over Watson's shoulder if he struggled.

So they won't be turning to Jameis Winston any time soon, because their investment in Watson is just too large and it's not going away. He's due another $92 million in guaranteed salaries over the next two years. Even if they wanted to move on after this season they couldn't because he'd leave more than $172 million in "dead money" on the books.

They have no choice but to give Watson every opportunity to prove his worth, to play up to his contract. They can't justify not showing patience and faith in a guy they invested in so heavily. They can't yo-yo him in and out of the lineup. In a world where money and cap space didn't matter, sure they'd probably sit him, at least for a few weeks. But that world — at least in the NFL — doesn't exist.

So that's it. Watson is the Browns' quarterback now, next year and the year after, for better or worse. So far it's been mostly "for worse." And their marriage may have to last even longer depending on how many times they need to restructure and extend his contract to make it affordable. They expected this move would be one that finally lifted up their troubled franchise. Instead, it's dragging them down like an anchor, and might keep pulling them deeper until at least 2028.

But for the Browns, that's the cost of their crazy business decision — one that could become even costlier considering yet another woman has filed a civil suit against Watson, accusing him of more sexual misconduct. So he could be facing another suspension at some point.

Meanwhile, the losses keep piling up.

"There weren't many who thought at the time that this was a good deal, that it would somehow work out for the Browns," the GM said. "If you remember, a lot of owners were p—ssed about it. It made the whole league look bad. And even in just a football sense, it just wasn't a sensible deal.

"So none of this is really a surprise. Though to be honest, it worked out even worse for them than I thought it would."

It's been terrible. Even if what Stefanski said is true, that Watson "played well" and that the Browns have bigger problems than him, that's just lowering the bar for a quarterback who is being paid to be one of the best in the league. Right now he's not even close. The Browns are 9-7 in his 16 starts and on the brink of wasting away their season. And Watson is a big reason why.

But they're stuck with him. All they can do is wait and hope that the franchise doesn't crumble under the weight of his contract, and that better — or at least not-so-terrible — days are ahead.

Ralph Vacchiano is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports. He spent the previous six years covering the Giants and Jets for SNY TV in New York, and before that, 16 years covering the Giants and the NFL for the New York Daily News. Follow him Twitter at @RalphVacchiano.