NFL Trade Rumors
The Cleveland Browns announced they have designated QB Deshaun Watson to return from the PUP list.
We’ve designated QB Deshaun Watson for return to practice
— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) December 3, 2025
This opens a three-week window for him to practice with the team before he has to be added to the active roster.
This shows there’s at least a chance that Watson could make a return to the field again for Cleveland this season. He tore his Achilles last year and then suffered another setback while rehabbing the injury.
Cleveland.com’s Mary Kay Cabot said in November it felt like it was a foregone conclusion that Watson would be with the Browns in 2026, as the dead cap money to move on from him would be significant even if he were designated a June 1 cut.
Cabot expects the Browns to restructure Watson’s $46 million guaranteed salary again for the final year of the five-year, $230 million contract he signed after Cleveland traded for him in 2022.
Watson, 30, was taken in the first round of the 2017 NFL draft out of Clemson by the Texans. He signed a four-year, $13.854 million rookie deal with the Texans that included a fifth-year option of around $17.3 million for the 2021 season.
The Texans later signed Watson to a four-year extension worth as much as $177 million heading into the 2020 season, paying him $39 million a year. However, Watson requested a trade after the season, then sat out the entire 2021 season while navigating more than two dozen lawsuits for sexual misconduct. He was later suspended for 11 games.
Watson was traded to the Browns for significant draft compensation in 2022 and signed a five-year, $230 million, fully guaranteed contract as part of the trade. The deal runs through 2026 and includes base salaries of $46 million in each of the final two seasons.
In 2024, Watson appeared in seven games for the Browns and completed 63.4 percent of his pass attempts for 1,148 yards, five touchdowns and three interceptions. He added 31 carries for 148 yards and another score.
We’ll have more on Watson as the news is available.
The post Browns Designating QB Deshaun Watson To Return appeared first on NFLTradeRumors.co.
