As Deshaun Watson begins his second season with the Cleveland Browns much ado about nothing is still being made about his contract by both the local, and national media.
Deshaun Watson signed a 5 year 230 million dollar contract all guaranteed with the Cleveland Browns, who had acquired him from the Houston Texans back in March of 2022.
Since being acquired by the Browns Watson has been scrutinized heavily by both the national and local media, due to past off the field issues that occurred during his time playing for the Houston Texans. Add on the new contract plus the 11 game suspension levied down by the NFL, Deshaun Watson and the Cleveland Browns were easy targets for the National Media.
I told close friends and others last year after the trade and the contract extension was made, that by the time other NFL quarterbacks such as Lamar Jackson, Jalen Hurts, Justin Herbert, and Joe Burrow all sign their new contract extension’s, Deshaun Watson’s contract will be considered a bargain despite all of his money being guaranteed. So far, my words have hit the mark dead center.
Jalen Hurts 5 years 255 million with 179.5 million guaranteed. Lamar Jackson 5 years 260 million with 185 million guaranteed. Last for now until Joe Burrow signs his deal Justin Herbert 5 years 262.5 million with 133.7 guaranteed and 193.7 injury guaranteed. Even though Deshaun Watson’s contract is fully guaranteed all 4 quarterbacks that I previously mentioned will most likely collect the full value of their contracts, unless they suffer a significant injury, which is less likely to happen since this is the era of the NFL that the quarterback is the be all end all.
The league will do whatever is necessary to protect and prevent the quarterback from suffering a serious injury on the field. Plus not many top quarterbacks just all of a sudden fall of the cliff performance wise at all. Nowadays most quarterbacks that play at a high performance level stay and play with their team at least 10 years plus. Otherwise, the top notch signal callers are usually in most cases never available for trade or free agency unless they are at the age of 35 plus, and their performance has regressed or in Deshaun Watson’s case he requested a trade.
So let’s quit worrying about Deshaun Watson’s pockets since salary wise he is only the 8th highest paid QB this upcoming season. By the time Joe Burrow signs his extension, Deshaun Watson’s contract will be looking like a Family Dollar discount, despite all of his money being guaranteed.
Plus it’s not my money or yours and on top of that the Haslam’s literally print money and did what they had to do to get their Quarterback Of now and the foreseeable future.
Plus let’s not forget that thirteen other NFL teams also inquired about Deshaun Watson’s services. So who cares what the national media says because it’s Cleveland against the world.
So let’s get on board with the Browns this upcoming football season and enjoy the ride.
-Keith Allen
*Photo courtesy of The Spun
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