Deshaun Watson‘s recent setback in his Achilles rehab has proven to be a situation which will seriously threaten his availability for 2025. The Browns quarterback tore his Achilles a second time, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reports. The team has since confirmed the news. 
Such a scenario was raised as a possibility earlier this week, with a second surgery of course being required in that event. As Rapoport notes, Watson underwent surgery yesterday to repair the most recent tear. His recovery timeline will now be pushed back as a result of the second operation; returning to full health in time for the start of the 2025 campaign was already a stretch, but now Watson is in danger of missing next season altogether.
“Earlier this week, when Watson reported to CrossCountry Mortgage Campus for his exit physical as part of the Browns’ season-ending process, he complained of discomfort after rolling his ankle in Miami,” a team statement reads in part. “MRI results demonstrated a re-rupture to his Achilles tendon. Dr. Bob Anderson, a foot and ankle specialist in Charlotte, NC, performed both surgeries.”
When on the field, Watson’s level of play has fallen well short of expectations. The former Texans Pro Bowler is still in Cleveland’s plans with two more years and $92MM guaranteed remaining on his pact (one which was once again restructured last month). The team has made it clear, though, that adding competition at the QB spot will be a priority for the offseason. Especially with Watson now set to miss considerable time next year, Cleveland will likely proceed with increased urgency in finding a new passer.
The Browns are currently scheduled to select second overall in April’s draft, and bringing in a rookie QB has already been floated as a distinct possibility. Two signal-callers – Miami’s Cam Ward and Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders – are considered the top options in this year’s class, one which is not viewed as favorably as past drafts. With veteran Jameis Winston a pending free agent, the Browns may be in the market for more than one quarterback addition over the coming months. In any case, Watson’s bid to return to his Houston form will be significantly delayed.
I am not a medical expert, but I’m pretty sure that’s not how a rehab is supposed to go.
Instructions unclear, tore achillies
Juuust a bit outside.
Tugging a little too hard?
Karma is a helluva drug.
If karma existed, he wouldn’t have been paid $230M guaranteed. There’s a special place in hell for him, though.
“Now Watson is in danger of missing next season altogether.” Using the word “danger” suggests it’s a bad thing. Now the Browns can keep him on IR the entire season and not waste a roster spot on the 53 for this turd. They should tell Watson he can rehab from home and we’ll see you in 2026.
That the Browns 2.0 brought this mess upon themselves and it impacted the salary structures league-wide they deserve to be burdened with carrying him on their roster and not be saved. Pure trash!
And the Browns might have insurance to cover some of his salary. That’s kind of a win for them — an excuse not to play him and not spending real money for him.
Insurance is only going to put money back in the owners pocket – it’ll have no bearing in the cap, so the team is still screwed.
Scratch that – under the CBA it might be impacted. Could be mibor credits, which is better than nothing. Still, they’re screwed.
At least they can go ahead and draft a QB and put Watson out of mind for a while.
I read somewhere, the Browns have insurance on him for something like this. They may have a little wiggle room to dump him.
Insurance money goes into their pocket, but the cap hit still remains. I’m sure they’re glad this occurred considering insurance doesn’t pay for poor play.
It depends on the wording of the contract and insurance. Some of it Def can go towards the cap
No – the contract has to fit the cba.
Its negligible cap relief and the insurance only pays the owner.
There isn’t a way out of this.
Contract is insured, and the Browns will receive cap relief. They have to pay Watson. They receive their insurance check after the season. They get their cap relief the following year. I dont know why the CBA calls it a refund from the player, when the money comes from an insurance company, but it does. Next year Cleveland will get about 7MM in cap space secondary to insurance payments from games Watson missed this season. If he misses all of 2025, they’ll get over 40MM in cap credit for 2026. Unless they restructure his deal to reduce the 2025 cap hit.
Long term this is a good thing for Cleveland. Short term, 2025 is really going to suck.
Sometimes bad things happen to good people…that is not the case here.
I am at a loss for words, did Watson put a knife to his own Achilles?
The GM did.
That is possible
It was a massage therapist wielding the knife.
lol
Hello Browns; This is the Atlanta Falcons calling – Kirk Cousins can be had !!
I’m surprised they left the comments open for this one haha
I don’t think Watson has any defenders left, so it’s probably the friendliest comments section they’ll ever get. We’re all on the same page here.
I hear ya on that. I was thinking less because it would be divisive and more because there is always the chance someone will say something racist or over the top. That said, it’s stayed pretty reasonable!
Art Modell was right
I know, just starting the obvious here. The Browns made a disastrous move by signing this guy. Completely wrecked this organization.
To be fair, when was the franchise not a wreck?
I got ya. But this reaches another level of disaster.
Agreed! Enjoy the games this weekend.
When Baker won them a playoff game and almost beat KC
It was wrecked already, which is why they signed him.
Damn poor guy. I wouldn’t wish this on anybody
He might be one of the few I’d wish it upon. Dude is a bad human being
Kirk cousins Aaron Rodgers and maybe even Sam Darnold now have a potential landing spot
Assuming they’re willing to play for veteran minimum. The Browns won’t have the cap space to pay two high priced QB’s, one of whom won’t be playing. Given they have the #2 draft pick, they can get Ward or Sanders if they want.
They insured Watson’s contract so they’re going to get cap relief
Insurance doesn’t change the cap hit until the following year. I.e., 2026. At least that’s my understanding.
Or move back and get more picks if they sign a bridge vet mid March. Darnold Rodgers tannehill Garapolo or cousins
Garoppolo could be an interesting fit. The wider WR splits in Stefanski’s scheme make it tougher for defenses to disguise their coverage, which I think benefits Garoppolo since he has the tools to excel in an offense with a strong run game but sometimes struggles with decision making.
Cousins could easily bounce back in that system, too, as long as he gets healthy and his arm talent doesn’t regress more, but does he want to go to a situation like that? I think he would be better off signing with the likes of the Colts or even the Jets who can open up about $40M in cap space with a Davante Adams cut and a post-June 1 Rodgers cut. It remains to be seen if they hire a GM who can use it well (and if Woody would stay out of the way).
Assuming Cousins gets cut, the Falcons will still be paying him a ton of guaranteed money so he doesn’t have to sign a new bank-breaking deal, and he’d be going someplace where he will unquestionably be the starter, which is pretty important to him.
Cousins would pull a 2024 Russell Wilson: have your former team pay you huge buckets of money while your new team gives you vet minimum and you prove you can be a starter again. Titans also makes sense for cousins too. This draft class is lackluster for QBs this will be a great year for veterans and bridge QBs.
The Browns, with a former Vikings coordinator in Stefanski, could an obvious option. They had two productive years together, so I don’t think that it would take long to integrate him in, and could be, schematically speaking, the easiest transition for Cousins currently available.
I suppose Shanahan is out there with Cousins as a plan B if Purdy somehow slips away from the 9ers (to be clear-I do NOT see that happening), but other than that, this seems to be the best coach-player connection left for Cousins right now…provided he doesn’t retire.
He won’t retire
Purdy is not a free agent for 2025. He will be in the 4th year of his rookie contract. And the 49ers could franchise him for 2026 if they didn’t want to extend him.
Im not ruling out Aaron Rodgers if he gets dumped.
The Browns going after Aaron Rodgers would be pure Browns: stupid
Yeah but Browns….
At 36, I think he wants to win some playoff games. I don’t think the Browns are truly a 3 win team, but are they a playoff team? I’m not so sure.
Kirk could be a possibility if the Falcons release him, which they say they’re not going to do. Rodgers could be a possibility but only if he’ll play for a low salary, which I don’t see. Darnold has a 0% chance of playing for Cleveland.
Kirk could be traded. Off-season is a very long beast. If a solid deal presents itself anything can happen. And now with a second Achilles tear and QBs like Jameis and DTR on your roster I’d shoot for the moon. If browns miss another playoff heads will roll
I think Cleveland could be a pretty good landing spot for Justin Fields to try to reestablish himself as a viable starting QB in the NFL.
If Steelers don’t keep him titans would make more sense. But yes I can see browns
Man …rough times in CLE
Time to retire, buddy. Your body is done with football. Go have a massage or 2!
Can a masseuse just rub it out?
Lol
This is the best news the Browns could hope for
I get the hate, I suppose, but no one should be happy a guy is suffering from a crippling injury. That’s crazy y’all.
People are crazy.
All those women he victimized. This is exactly what he deserves.
Millions of dollars to not play is not a really big punishment.
Yes he is sore but the money will ease his “pain”.
This dudes a predator. He should’ve gotten more injured
Is the Watson signing worse that when the Orioles have Chris Davis $160m?
Yes. No salary cap in MLB.
They didn’t just give him stupid guaranteed money but they also gave up tremendous draft capital. By far horrendous
Worse yet they gave up their dignity. They chased this clown and he said no way and laughed at their offer, then they came back with the ridiculous deal they settled on.
lol. Lmao, even.
lol. lmao, even
Pay attention kids. This is what happens when you film dancing videos for TikTok.
The Browns probably have insurance to cover his salary if he is injured. Doesn’t take much to convince a team doctor to “find” an injury. Softens their stupid decision to guarantee this sex crime offender 240 million dollars. It’s all a scam.
Right, because the insurance company doesn’t send their own doctors and gladly pays out at the request.
Money paid on the $230M Guaranteed deal $137.3M for 19 games. That’s $7.2M per game and projects to $122M APY. Nice!
If he is out all of 2025 the paid will run up to $141.9M for the same 19 games. That will bump it to $7.5M/game with an APY projected at $127M.
This is a way better fleecing than Albert Haynesworth.
He won 9 games as the Browns QB. If he never plays for them again (which is very possible) it will have cost the Browns $25.5 million per win.
omg.
my doc told me that breaking the same tendon twice was game over.
could not be repaired properly.
I always worry about a second break.
He gets to bathe in money as usual but I truly think he is done as a starting QB. His mind and body are gone.
Remember the snickering from the Browns and their fans on how they rigged Watson’s contract to be an extremely low hit up front when it was assumed he’d be suspended, like he was. Yeah, that’s all hitting this year and next.
Karma is alive n has all the time in the world. Watson chose his path.
And so did the Browns
Just leave this guy on a massage table, ain’t worth dog doo
And the Cleveland Browns future continues to get worse….or better.
Lol my OP was taken down classic
Career over.
Well, THAT TEARS IT !!
Browns killed three birds with one contract
Vaporized any chance at fielding a balanced team
Hamstrung any viable “fast” rebuild
Turned the QB salary market upside down
Kudos
Probably won’t see Watson on an NFL field ever again.