Conflicting reports over Deshaun Watson’s injury insurance reveal a massive gap in potential salary cap relief for the Cleveland Browns.
It seems clear that the Cleveland Browns are set to receive a handful of cap credits as part of an injury insurance policy attached to Deshaun Watson's $230 million contract. Just how much those figures are worth, however, is unclear.
On Monday, Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio attempted to outline how much cap relief the Browns will be getting back due to Watson's recent string of injuries, digging into the NFL Players Association records to find what he believed were the official numbers. Florio's findings appeared to reveal over $88 million in refunds due back to Cleveland over the span of five years between 2024 and 2029 because of time missed by Watson due to injury.
That figure has since been disputed, though.
Multiple members of the popular salary cap tracking site Over the Cap chimed in on the matter. One of the first responses came in a direct reply to Pro Football Talk on X, as OTC's founder Jason Fitzgerald stated that Florio was misinterpreting the numbers.
"The numbers are what remains of the cap value from the original bonuses," he added. "The $8.79M reflects revaluing the bonus after the refund is received; it's not the refund itself. Teams also receive credits in their adjustments for prior years."
The second post provided even further details as OTC's Troy Chapman outlined just how much money the Browns would get back after the cap credits are applied to Watson's prorated bonus figures.
As laid out in the table above, the total due back to the Browns at least from money recouped on his bonus figures looked much different, coming in at $9.8 million. That's a far cry from Florio's number of $88-plus million, granted Chapman did note that there's more savings attached to Watson's base salary as well.
During his first four years in Cleveland, Watson has missed a total of 38 games due to injury during his first four years in Cleveland. That includes 11 games in 2023 due to a shoulder injury, then another 10 in 2024 after rupturing his Achilles.
After re-rupturing the Achilles tendon several months after having it repaired, Watson then missed all of last season as well. In total, he's played in only 19 games during that span.
Watson has a chance to win the Browns' starting QB job as he and 2025 fifth-round pick Shedeur Sanders will duke it out for the role at training camp in the coming weeks.
If Watson is named QB1, it may be a tall task for him to make it through the entire season healthy, considering his lengthy injury history of late. Time will tell, but another injury would potentially mean more money coming back to Cleveland in the form of cap credits. Just how much, though, no one can seem to verify.
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