3 Browns Playing Their Way Out of Cleveland's 2025 Plans

2. Deshaun Watson, quarterback

I know he's not playing right now, but Deshaun Watson has undoubtedly played his way out of the Browns' 2025 plans and beyond.

The Browns traded so much just to get Watson in the building, along with giving him an unprecedented and ridiculous $230 million contract that was fully guaranteed. Desperate times may call for desperate measures, but the way the Browns went about acquiring Deshaun Watson will likely go down in NFL history as one of the worst, most ill-advised moves a team has ever made.

After being suspended in 2022, Watson has suffered season-ending injuries in both 2023 and 2024. And the Browns have been better at quarterback in each of the three years they've had Watson when he wasn't on the field. They were better with Jacoby Brissett, they were better with Joe Flacco, and they've been better with Jameis Winston.

But the Browns are also just three years into their Watson investment, which means they are going to have to take some inspiration from the Denver Broncos offseason playbook and view letting go of Watson as addition by subtraction, even though they're probably going to be near the top of the league in total dead money on the salary cap.

Watson has played 19 games with the Browns and his effectiveness has diminished each year. We saw a slight decline for him from 2019 to 2020 when he was with Houston, but missing the 2021 season altogether really hindered his development overall.

We haven't seen anything close to the version of Watson that was once a legitimate NFL MVP candidate. And even if that's an unfair curve to grade him on, we haven't seen even a competent, leage-average starter when Watson has been in the Browns' lineup.

It's time the Browns moved on and with Watson turning 30 next season, perhaps they will look to develop a young guy and keep Jameis Winston as a bridge option.