This somewhat falls between the last two years, but hear us out. While the fully guaranteed, $230 million contract was issued in 2022, it’s what transpired in 2023 that puts it on this list.
Signing an alleged sex pest that hadn’t played football in over a year was bad. But after taking the field, Watson really showed he wasn’t worth the money, posting career lows in success rate, yards per attempt, yards, per completion, and touchdown rate. His 5-1 record was fraudulent: two of those wins came while Cleveland’s defense was playing at a historic pace, and another came in a Colts game that saw Watson throw five passes and complete as many passes to his own team (one) as the other.
The Browns have an elite defense and some legit skill-position weapons. The fact that a nearly 39-year-old Joe Flacco could walk in and take over this team shows how badly Cleveland is missing out on a real quarterback.
Don’t worry, it gets worse: Watson is a $63.98 million cap hit in each of the next three years, according to OverTheCap.
