When the Cleveland Browns acquired Deshaun Watson from the Houston Texans on March 18, 2022, they were hoping they found their long-term solution at the quarterback position. They were so confident in Watson that they were willing to give him an unprecedented contract that has not aged well.
Let’s examine Watson’s contract, 2024 salary, net worth, and career earnings.
Deshaun Watson’s Contract and Salary
After joining the Browns, Watson signed a five-year, $230 million contract with the team. In an unprecedented move, the Browns decided to fully guarantee Watson’s deal. This seemed like an extremely questionable decision at the time given the two dozen sexual assault accusations against the quarterback and the risk associated with a fully guaranteed deal.
Watson’s five-year, $230 million contract pays him an average annual value of $46 million per year. While he isn’t the NFL’s highest-paid quarterback, he did have the most guaranteed money of any player in the NFL for a while.
When Watson initially signed the deal, it was $80 million more than the next-highest amount of guaranteed money in any contract in NFL history. Dallas Cowboys QB Dak Prescott recently surpassed Watson by receiving $231 million in guaranteed money when he signed his record four-year, $240 million deal prior to the 2024 regular season.
Watson’s deal included a $45 million signing bonus and a $1 million salary in 2022 (so he wouldn’t miss out on a significant amount of income while suspended by the NFL for violating its personal conduct policy).
Earlier this year, Watson and the Browns restructured his deal, converting the entirety of the QB’s salary ($46 million) to a signing bonus. This restructuring allowed the Browns to add $36.8 million in cap space for this season.
Given Watson’s recent struggles and ruptured Achilles, his deal is widely regarded as the worst contract in the NFL.
Watson’s stint with Cleveland has been plagued by injuries. Over the last three seasons (from 2022 to 2024), Watson played in just 19 games. Over that span, he threw for 3,365 yards, 19 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions with a 61.2% completion percentage.
This season, Watson is currently the No. 39-ranked quarterback in PFN’s QB+ metric, receiving an F grade. Even before getting hurt, Watson was in the bottom five for nearly every metric, including third-down conversion rate, nYPA, passing from a clean pocket, and passing when under pressure.
Watson is under contract through the 2026 campaign. The fact that Watson’s deal is fully guaranteed makes it very difficult for Cleveland to move on. If the Browns cut Watson after this season, they would have a 2025 dead-cap hit of $118.9 million (including $92 million cash) and a 2026 dead-cap hit of $53.8 million.
Watson’s Net Worth and Career Earnings
Watson’s net worth is currently estimated to be $60 million.
Over the course of his professional career, Watson has made $188,762,978 from his NFL contracts alone. His career earnings rank 18th all-time in NFL history.
This figure doesn’t factor in his endorsement deals or off-field ventures.
He used to have deals with Nike, Beats by Dre, H-E-B, and Reliant Energy, but these companies decided to suspend their contracts with the star quarterback due to his off-field allegations.
Watson is believed to still have endorsement deals with companies such as DraftKings, Epix, Gillette, Miller Lite, Oikos, Raising Cane’s, Rocket Mortgage, Samsung, Verizon, and Rolex.
