Deshaun Watson's 'Poison Pill' in Contract Reported After Winning Browns' QB1 over Shedeur Sanders

The Cleveland Browns made the astonishing decision to name Deshaun Watson their starting quarterback on Monday, though releasing him was never really an option.

As Spotrac noted, doing so would have incurred an $86.2 million dead cap hit for the 2027 season. However, that can be spread between two seasons if he's cut before March 13 in 2027 and designated a post-June 1 release, which would also avoid a $200 million guaranteed salary poison pill:

The decision to not only trade for Watson, but also give him a fully-guaranteed contract, remains one of the worst decisions in modern sports history.

Here's what the Browns have gotten for the three first-round picks, one third-rounder, two fourths and the $230 million in fully guaranteed salary over five seasons it took to acquire Watson: 19 total starts, 3,365 yards, 19 touchdowns, 12 interceptions, a 61.2 completion percentage and a 9-10 record.

And after finishing 5-of-12 passes for 35 yards and an interception during Saturday's preseason game, Watson was booed by Cleveland's home crowd and didn't further endear himself to the fan base after the contest.

"I think the whole world knows it has nothing to do about the performance," he told reporters regarding the boos. "It's a little bit [more] personal than that. So I think it's a disrespectful thing. So yeah, I mean, I'm going to keep whatever I feel with me and my family internally on how I feel about that. And yeah, just move on. ... Last time I played on this field, I tore my Achilles. And that same fanbase, they cheered when I got hurt. So what does that have to do with anything about performance? When a person gets hurt, especially for your own city, and they cheer?"

It's more complicated than that, of course. Alongside his disappointing performance, Watson's contract has been prohibitive from a team-building standpoint and he also had past scandals that soured him in the eyes of many fans.

He apologized for his remarks on Monday:

It's a virtual guarantee that Watson will not be on the Browns' roster in 2027. He'll leave behind plenty of dead cap space and a strained relationship with Cleveland fans, however.