Cleveland quarterback Deshaun Watson will not be activated from the physically unable to perform list, Browns coach Kevin Stefanski told reporters Tuesday, marking an end to Watson’s 2025 season.
Cleveland’s highest-paid offensive player had returned to the practice field for the first time this season on Dec. 3, opening a 21-day window for the franchise to either activate him to the 53-man roster or shut him down for the remainder of the 2025 season by Tuesday.
Watson is recovering from multiple Achilles surgeries since January and had been thought to be out for the season while healing from the procedures.
“He’s done a great job with everything that’s been asked of him,” Stefanski said. “I’ve gotten to see him work so hard, whether it’s in the training room, by himself in the indoor with the trainers, on the practice field now for the last bit. Just felt like this was the right decision for him and for us. His focus will continue to be to help this football team and continue to get healthy and get stronger and all those types of things.”
Cleveland remains on the hook for one more year of Watson’s five-year contract.
He counts more than $80.7 million against the salary cap in 2026 with a base salary of $46 million. Team owner Jimmy Haslam called the Watson acquisition a “big swing and miss” in March.
Watson, 30, has played 19 games with the Browns and thrown 19 TD passes since he was acquired from the Houston Texans in 2022 and signed a fully guaranteed five-year, $230 million contract in Cleveland.
Haslam will have paid Watson $184 million when the 2025 season ends. Watson will have earned $9.68 million per game played with the Browns despite not playing this season.
He was suspended 11 games in 2022 for off-field conduct related to sexual misconduct allegations involving more than 20 massage therapists. His 2023 season was cut short by left shoulder surgery and the 2024 season ended abruptly for Watson in Week 7 because of a ruptured Achilles, missing the final 10 games.
He had a second Achilles surgery in January to repair a new tear in the same tendon.
The Browns restructured Watson’s contract in the offseason — he received a $44 million restructure bonus — to free up salary-cap space and sign defensive end Myles Garrett to a four-year, $160 million contract and curb his trade demand.
–Field Level Media
