Dawgs By Nature
Details are limited but Browns salary cap could see a bump if Watson’s Achilles injury impacts availability
The Cleveland Browns season has continued going downhill with Joe Burrow finally getting a victory on the road in the Battle of Ohio. Burrow moved to 2-5 versus Cleveland in his impressive early career with the Cincinnati Bengals.
The big story coming out of the Week 7 loss was the Achilles injury to QB Deshaun Watson. Watson was having a good game overall having completed 15 of his 17 attempts.
The expectation is that Watson would be out for the rest of the season and, perhaps, beyond dealing with a torn Achilles. Watson also remains under investigation by the NFL as his monster contract will have a huge hit on the Browns cap space.
Unless it doesn’t.
In an article posted last month on ESPN, Seth Walder noted that insured contracts could ease salary cap hits for teams:
The CBA labels insurance proceeds as a “refund from the player,” which qualifies the amount as a cap credit for the club for the following season. In the simplest terms, if a player who eats up a significant portion of a club’s salary cap misses significant time with injury or illness, a club doesn’t have to take it as a total loss, but can recover space for the following year. Plus, insurance premium payments don’t count against the salary cap.
According to the article, Cleveland insured just over $58 million this year. With the season halfway over, that could mean the Browns would save $29 million in salary cap space next season. If Watson were to miss games next year due to the injury, which could depend on a number of variables, cap space for 2026 could be saved as well.
Last year’s injury to Watson gave Cleveland another $4 million in cap space in 2024 based on how much they insured in 2023.
We will continue to keep you up to date on how Watson’s injury impacts the Browns cap space as more information and reporting become available.
Did you know about the insurance impact on the salary cap? Besides QB, where should the Browns use $20 plus million in salary cap space next year if they receive it?
