Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson (4) heads back to the locker room before an NFL preseason football game at Cleveland Browns Stadium, Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024, in Cleveland, Ohio. The Cleveland Browns restructured quarterback Deshaun Watson’s contract in a move that created $35.832 million in salary cap space, multiple media outlets reported on Thursday.
Per the reports, the Browns converted $44.79 million of Watson’s $46 million base salary this season into a signing bonus. The move gives the Browns more than $62 million in cap space.
Also on Thursday, multiple outlets reported that Cleveland was expected to release quarterback Tyler Huntley. That would leave the Browns with Watson, Jameis Winston and Dorian Thompson-Robinson in the quarterback room ahead of the season opener against the visiting Dallas Cowboys on Sept. 8.
The Browns adjusted Watson’s NFL-record $230 million fully guaranteed deal prior to the start of free agency in 2023, clearing approximately $36 million in cap space.
Watson, 28, will have cap hits of $72.9 million in the 2025 and 2026 seasons, with $172 million and $99 million in dead cap hits, respectively.
Watson has played just 12 games for the Browns over two seasons since they acquired him from the Houston Texans. He served an 11-game suspension to begin the 2022 season for violating the league’s personal conduct policy, in connection to lawsuits from more than two dozen female massage therapists alleging sexual harassment and assault.
Then, multiple injuries limited Watson to six games in 2023, when he threw for 1,115 yards, seven touchdowns and four interceptions while completing 61.4 percent of his passes.
Watson, a three-time Pro Bowler during his time with Houston, has thrown for 16,756 yards, 118 touchdowns and 45 interceptions in 66 games (65 starts) since entering the league in 2017. He has a 36-29 record as a starter.
Huntley signed a one-year, $1.29 million contract with the Browns in March.
Huntley, 26, spent four seasons as a backup to Lamar Jackson with the Baltimore Ravens. He was named to the Pro Bowl in 2022 after completing 67.0 percent of his passes for 658 yards and two TDs in six games (four starts).
Huntley has thrown for 1,957 yards with eight touchdowns and seven interceptions in 20 games (nine starts) with the Ravens. He signed with Baltimore in 2020 as an undrafted free agent out of Utah.
–Field Level Media
