The most talked about contract in NFL history is still being talked about, but still not for good reasons.

The risk was clear when the Cleveland Browns signed a QB Deshaun Watson to a five-year, $230 million contract with all of the money guaranteed. Watson was coming off a year of no play and a slew of off-field allegations against him.

Still, the Browns hoped Watson would be the quarterback to take them over the top. The talent on the field for the Houston Texans was good enough to mention him alongside the likes of Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson and others.

Cleveland now has to deal with a quarterback who had one of the worst performances in Week 1, in addition to Bryce Jong And Daniel Jones.

Due to an 11-game suspension and a serious shoulder injury, Watson has played just 13 games for the Browns since joining in 2022. That includes Sunday’s drubbing at the hands of the Dallas Cowboys. In those 13 games, Watson has completed just 59% of his passes for 2,386 yards, 15 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.

Watson was also tackled 43 times in those 13 games.

While we recognize that it is still very early in the season, it is important to discuss what is being discussed. Watson’s contract was all over social media yesterday while the game was going on, and also in our game thread chats.

• So what are Cleveland’s options with Watson’s contract? None of them are good, but the details matter. According to Over the Cap, the Browns would have a dead cap hit of $172.7 million next year if they cut him. If they use a release after June 1, Cleveland would spread that hit over two seasons.

The restructuring of contracts this year has done relatively little to help the dead ceiling problem, it has merely shifted money around a bit.

In addition to the massive amount of cap space that the above number represents, it would also mean nearly $100 million less cap space for the Browns next year. What does that mean?

Cleveland is currently projected to be $65 million over the salary cap next year. Rolling over the $50 million they have this year would solve most of that, but firing Watson would mean losing another $100 million in cap hits. Oversimplifying that would mean losing Myles Garrett, Denzel Ward, Joel Bitonio, Wyatt Teller And Jack Conklin (the team’s five biggest salary cap hits) next year.

Players who are traded or released also have salary cap related expenses, which are not included in this estimate.

How about a swap?

A few issues with a transaction:

• Watson has a no-trade clause
• No team would want to trade him in the current lineup
• The Browns would still have a lot of dead cap players to deal with, on top of whatever portion of the contract the other team was demanding from them.

Cleveland’s only hope is for Watson to turn things around. Otherwise, firing him isn’t an option, and neither is trading him. If the Browns decide their decision was a bad one, Watson will likely remain with the team until the end of his contract or even cut him in 2026, as firing him after June 1 would cost them more than $70 million in dead cap space.