Browns are spending more time on their finances instead of focusing on what’s happening in the gridiron. Usually, you will have franchises talking about what they need to improve before next season. But the situation in Cleveland is so bad that they are still stuck with their $230M injured QB Deshaun Watson.

Imagine a deal so bad that your franchise is restructuring it for the third time. Yes, the Browns have yet again knocked on Watson’s doors to save their club. After back-to-back restructuring of his fully guaranteed contract, the Browns were able to have some breathing space with $35M in cap space in each of those years. However, things haven’t improved yet as they still found themselves $17M over salary cap space before next season.

Now, you could be wondering why they aren’t just packing his bag. Well, they can’t really do so because Watson’s contract holds $72,935,000 cap hits in each of 2025 & 2026. So, the Browns have braced themselves to keep him at the club until the 2026 season. Then Cleveland will designate him with a post-June 1st release in 2027. This will help in spreading around $89.5M in dead cap space and finally move on from Watson’s horror contract.

But here’s the thing: it wouldn’t have been possible without converting his base salaries into a signing bonus. With this restructuring, the Browns have added dummy salaries to 2027 and 2028. It might be the only way to get rid of someone who has yet to play more than seven games a season in Cleveland colors.

Yes, Watson has only played 19 games while suffering his second ACL within three years. Besides injury, Deshaun has also missed 11 games for multiple sexual misconduct suspensions. While the focus currently resides on Watson’s contract restructuring, his head coach, Kevin Stefanski, may have to vacate his seat if things don’t improve soon.

Kevin Stefanski counting his days in Cleveland

There aren’t many coaches who manage to save their jobs after guiding their team the way Stefanski has done this season. With a record of 40-42 and a Coach of the Year award twice with the Browns. Stefanski has often managed to prove his worth to the Browns faithful. Just look at last season; he led Cleveland to a postseason berth without Deshaun Watson. However, things have taken a turn for the worse in a season that had a lot of promise after last year’s success.

Their offense has simply blown up with or without Deshaun Watson. Some people thought Pro Bowler Jamies Winston could have been the solution at center. His three TDs and no interceptions in week 8 against the Ravens led the Browns to an unlikely 29-24 victory. However, everything started to collapse thereafter. Winston was sacked to the bench in week 15 after throwing just 13 TDs with a career-high 12 interceptions. With pick-6s every week and subpar productions in yardage, the Browns opted for another change.

This time, they handed the keys to Dorian Thompson-Robinson. And guess what happened next? Thompson-Robinson ended up throwing 5 interceptions without scoring a single TD in just 5 games. The way QBs have blown up in the face of Kevin Stefanski, it would be harsh to get rid of him after this season. Well, there’s no doing so anyway. As per NFL insiders, the Browns have no plans to move on from Stefanski. Who knows if the Browns manage to bring him a reliable QB next season? Maybe he can turn things around from the horrors of 2024.