Sportsnaut
What is the worst NFL contract? Two of the worst moves in NFL history will be the Cleveland Browns‘ decision to trade for Deshaun Watson and then sign him to a fully-guaranteed contract extension. While all the other moves in recent years pale in comparison to that disaster class, there are still plenty of bad contracts in the NFL right now.
Let’s dive into our list of the worst NFL contracts right now.
The Deshaun Watson contract is the worst in NFL history, of course. He won’t play in 2025, recovering from a torn Achilles that he somehow re-ruptured in January. So, three years after signing him to a five-year contract worth $230 million, all of it guaranteed at signing, here’s what the Browns got for their money: a 9-10 record with an 80.7 QB rating and a 61.2 percent completion rate in 19 games. Put another way, that’s $12.105 million per game. Watson will never play for the Browns again, and reporting has already indicated that Watson’s NFL career is effectively over.
Dak Prescott is an MVP-caliber negotiator. The fact that he currently has one of the worst NFL contracts is an indictment of the Dallas Cowboys‘ front office. Prescott’s willingness to get uncomfortable in contract negotiations has allowed him to take complete advantage of Jerry Jones and Co. What’s so remarkable, beyond the no-trade clause and no tag clause in the contract, is the fact that Prescott’s $60 million average annual salary isn’t close to being touched right now. Josh Allen ($55 million AAV) didn’t even come near it with his newest extension. Prescott is arguably a top-10 quarterback, but Dallas paid him like he’s Patrick Mahomes.
Related: Dallas Cowboys Schedule Predictions 2025, Game by Game Cowboys Predictions
One year later, the Atlanta Falcons have essentially been given a bit of a pass for using a top-10 pick on Michael Penix Jr. and shocking the NFL world. However, Penix becoming the starter so quickly only makes the Kirk Cousins contract look worse. It became evident almost immediately in 2024 that Cousins wasn’t the same coming off a ruptured Achilles and that was in the first season of his four-year, $180 million contract with $100 million guaranteed. The 37-year-old is simply not a starting-caliber player anymore. A lone positive for Atlanta regarding this deal is that it can designate Cousins as a post-June 1 release in 2026, freeing up $25 million in cap savings. Of course, that’ll leave a $32.5 million cap hit that year with $12.5 million in 2027.
