The Cleveland Browns made another step toward the offseason when they restructured Deshaun Watson’s contract on Thursday morning. The move cleared $36 million in cap space and gave Watson his entire $46 million salary for next season as a signing bonus.
This is not the first time Watson has agreed to a restructured deal as the Browns look to spread out his cap hit. It’s also notable that it helps the Browns become cap-compliant ahead of the free agency period, which begins next week. But more than anything, it tips the Browns’ hand when it comes to their future quarterback plans and presents an obvious target when the market opens up.
Deshaun Watson Restructure Clears the Path to Sign Kirk Cousins
The Browns have avenues they can take to replace Watson, who won’t play in 2025 after rupturing his right Achilles tendon twice in a four-month span. While selecting a quarterback with the second overall pick in next month’s draft seems obvious, the Browns have a better option if Kirk Cousins becomes available.
Cousins is currently in a stalemate with the Atlanta Falcons one year after signing a four-year, $180 million contract in free agency. The honeymoon lasted just over one month when Atlanta selected Michael Penix Jr. with the eighth overall pick in last year’s draft and became a pending divorce when Cousins was benched after 14 games.
The Falcons have insisted that they’re content with Cousins as a backup for next season, but the 36-year-old is trying to kick and scream his way out of Atlanta. This is also a player that has become one of the greatest negotiators of all-time, convincing the Minnesota Vikings to give him the first fully guaranteed contract in NFL history (three years, $84 million in 2018) and two more fully guaranteed deals totaling $101 million despite managing just one playoff win over six seasons.
Long story short? Cousins knows how to get what he wants, and it would benefit Atlanta to just get rid of the headache and fully commit to Penix going forward. If that happens, the Browns will be there waiting for Cousins.
After restructuring Watson, the Browns have just over $12 million in salary cap space according to Spotrac. That amount of money allows Cleveland to find Watson’s replacement but doesn’t give them the freedom to pursue a top-of-the-market option like Sam Darnold, who is projected to have an asking price of $40.1 million per season according to Spotrac.
This is where Cousins comes into play. Cousins has offset language built into his contract, meaning that the Falcons will be responsible for the difference in his 2025 salary compared to what he would have received in Atlanta.
A similar situation played out with Russell Wilson last year, who was released by the Denver Broncos with similar language in his contract. Wilson signed for the veteran minimum of $1.21 million with the Pittsburgh Steelers but got his entire $39 million salary as the Broncos were on the hook for the remaining $37.79 million.
But outside of being a cheap solution, Cousins could be an effective one. Stefanski served as Cousins’ offensive coordinator in his second year in Minnesota, and while he didn’t hit the 4,000-yard, 30-touchdown benchmarks he’s known for, he had his most efficient season, posting a 1.4% interception rate and his second-highest net yards per attempt as a starter at 7.2.
This is important as the Browns need to win to increase their slim chances of keeping Myles Garrett and save the jobs of Stefanski and general manager Andrew Berry. It also wouldn’t prevent Cleveland from signing Cousins and taking Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders with the second overall pick while also filling some of the needs in order to compete in 2025.
The hang-up is that the Browns need to wait for Atlanta to make a decision. But after Thursday’s move, their next quarterback target couldn’t be more obvious.