NFL Rumors: Browns 'Resigned to Their Fate' with Deshaun Watson amid QB's Poor Play

The $92 million in guaranteed money remaining on Deshaun Watson's contract after 2024 is reportedly going to keep the quarterback with the Cleveland Browns despite his struggles early this season.

"My sense through all of this is the Browns are resigned to their fate, having no choice but to ride this out and hope things turn," Jeremy Fowler wrote for ESPN.

Fowler believes that the Browns could decide to "bench Watson," but likely only with the guarantee that he will get the ball back later this season.

According to Fowler, Browns owner Jimmy Haslam and general manager Andrew Berry "need to give Watson superfluous chances to rediscover even semblance of his old game, due to the contract."

Watson has thrown five touchdown passes and three picks through six games while leading the Browns to a 1-6 record. He is currently in the third season of the five-year, $230 million deal he signed with the team in 2022.

According to Fowler, the Browns "believe they aren't that far off" from winning games despite Watson's struggles, especially due to the anticipated return of running back Nick Chubb from a knee injury during Week 7 against the visiting Cincinnati Bengals.

But the Browns also decided to trade Watson's top target, wide receiver Amari Cooper, in a Tuesday trade with the Cleveland Browns.

The Browns traded Cooper and a 2025 sixth-rounder in exchange for a 2025 third-round pick and a 2026 seventh-round pick, showing that the team is focused on acquiring future draft capital rather than building around Watson.

And yet there are few good options for rebuilding around Watson's contract, which would cost the Browns $172 million in dead money against the 2025 cap should they cut him after this season, per Over the Cap, while even a trade would leave the team saddled with $81 million next season.

The Browns currently have eight picks heading into the 2025 draft, including five of their own plus three acquired in trades.

That haul includes a first-round pick for the first time in four seasons. The Browns spent three drafts on the outside of the first round looking in following their trade with the Houston Texans for Watson before the 2022 season.

Given that the Browns are one of six NFL teams with just one win on the books heading into Week 7, that first-round pick could be a high one. Even if Watson is set to remain on the roster for the next several seasons, Berry could consider drafting a quarterback with the pick in order to begin building a new team around his contract.