NFL free agency 2023: Browns' Deshaun Watson restructures contract to create millions in cap space, per report

Watson played six games for Cleveland last season

The Cleveland Browns have gotten their books in order and are now under the salary cap threshold ahead of the new league year thanks to the restructuring of Deshaun Watson's contract. As NFL Network reports, the team agreed to the reworked deal with their quarterback, which has freed up nearly $36 million in space. 

Cleveland was roughly $14 million over the salary cap and needed to get under it before the official start of free agency on March 15. With this restructure with Watson, the team not only has gotten under the cap but now has created $22.3 million in space to be active in free agency and address other needs across the roster. 

Watson had a base salary of $46 million this upcoming season and the team was able to convert a chunk of that to a signing bonus, which created the space. According to Spotrac, Watson now has a base salary of just $1.16 million for 2023 and a cap hit of $19.1 million. Over the next three seasons after 2023, however, Watson has cap hits of $63.9 million and then a void year in 2027 that has an $8.9 million cap charge. Given those lofty cap totals, this likely won't be the last restructure these two sides makes over Watson's tenure. 

It was roughly a year ago from this point when the Browns agreed to trade for the then-Texans quarterback and inked him to an unprecedented five-year, $230 million fully guaranteed contract. Watson was suspended for the first 11 games of last season due to sexual harassment allegations stemming from his time in Houston. 

Watson was reinstated by the league in late November and made his Browns debut in Week 13 against his former Texans club. The 27-year-old played in the team's final six games in the regular season and went 3-3 in those starts while completing just 58.2% of his throws and registering a 79.1 passer rating.