Many Cleveland fans want Deshaun Watson gone sooner rather than later. But his impact on the Browns’ salary cap table will continue to be felt. Let’s explore how they can minimize that burden.

The advantage of a post-June 1 cut is that for the year it’s used, only one season’s worth of dead money counts for that league year (in the previous example, 2027), while the remaining dead money for however many void years are on paper beyond that will all count against the following season’s cap (in the previous example, 2028).

There is a deadline by when a contract can be restructured and the player still be eligible to be designated as a post-June 1 cut. And that cutoff happens this week.

So the timing of the latest restructure opens the door for him to be a post-June 1 designee and be released anytime prior to that in the coming league year. He probably won’t be, but the reporting that “The reworked deal also signals that Watson is expected to be on the Browns next season” is way off the mark.

Amending the contract makes his cap hit lower in 2025 whether he’s on the team or not. It’s the 2026 hit that will be significantly lower if he’s on the team throughout 2025, which is entirely irrespective of this restructure. And if he is on the team all of next year, they’ll almost certainly restructure his 2026 P5 at the end of 2025 so they can designate him post-June 1 the following season, just as they could do now after this last restructure.

But the reason he probably won’t get cut in 2025 has more to do with his contract insurance than how a restructuring of his deal would affect 2025 if he were released.

We’ll dive into that and quickly explain exactly what the Browns should do with Watson right here in the conclusion, Part 5.

—@PoisonPill4