Sometimes, it’s hard to be a Cleveland Browns fan.
The Browns are off to a 1-4 start this season, and fans are already openly discussing the 2025 NFL Draft.
Cleveland’s product on the field has been hard to watch in 2024 as the offense is scoring just under 16 points per contest, and the team is dead-last in the NFL in total offensive yards.
Analysts and fans alike are suggesting it’s time to cut ties with quarterback Deshaun Watson, but the athlete is due more than $92 million of his five-year, $230-million contract.
The cap hit from his contract is significantly higher as the Browns have restructured his deal in multiple seasons.
Moving on from Watson will be a costly experience, no matter how the team chooses to do so.
Analyst Michael Ginnitti has one solution for the Browns that results in significant cap space hits for the 2025 and 2026 seasons if the team makes that decision.
Ginnitti – who runs the Spotrac website and corresponding social media accounts – believes the method he outlined on X Wednesday morning is one of the “cleaner options” that exist.
The #Browns 1-4 start is by no means entirely Deshaun Watson's fault, but if things continue to spiral & Watson is eventually benched, what comes next?
There are no good solutions, but one of the cleaner options might be: pic.twitter.com/xvl7zKzBA6
— Spotrac (@spotrac) October 8, 2024
Under his proposal, the Browns would convert $44.7 million of Watson’s 2025 salary into a signing bonus and carry his $37.1 million hit through June 1.
Then, the Browns would process a post-June 1st release date, leaving the team with $83.1 million dead hit in 2025 and a $89.6 million cap hit in 2026.
While those figures may seem outlandish, the salary cap for the 2025 regular season is expected to jump nearly $18 in 2025 and by an amount close to that in 2026.
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