The team says he rolled his ankle in Miami. How and when he did it is the question.
The second tear of quarterback Deshaun Watson’s Achilles tendon could give the Browns their last and best chance to avoid the remaining $92 million owed to him under his fully-guaranteed five-year deal.
The primary question is whether he re-tore the tendon doing something that his contract specifically prevents him from doing, under the clauses that guarantee his $46 million salary in 2025 and his $46 million salary in 2026.
Based on his contract, the guarantees void if Watson is injured “as a result of skydiving, hang gliding, rock or mountain climbing, racing of any kind including as a driver or passenger, motorcycling, use of any off-road or all-terrain vehicle, professional wrestling, boxing, use of firearms, scuba diving, jet skiing, surfing, bungee jumping, basketball, diving, and snow or water skiing.”
The team’s announcement of Watson’s re-injury says that he rolled his ankle in Miami. If he rolled his ankle by doing any of the things he is expressly prohibited from doing and the injury happened because of it, the Browns have an avenue for avoiding $92 million.
Even if the Browns can’t prove that Watson was engaging in activities that triggered a void of his guarantees, recent images on social media show him without a walking boot. Given the difficulty of rolling an ankle while in a walking boot, it’s possible that he wasn’t wearing a boot when he was supposed to be wearing a boot. If the team-specified rehab protocols required him to wear a boot, that could be another avenue for voiding the guarantees.
For the Browns, here’s the question: Do they want to play hardball with Watson? If they do, the first step is to fully investigate what he was doing when he rolled his ankle. The second step is to assess whether he rolled his ankle while not wearing a walking boot when he possibly should have been.
With $92 million at stake, and given that the contract has to date been a disaster for the Browns, why wouldn’t they explore every possible strategy for legitimately avoiding the obligation? And, since they employ a chief strategy officer, wouldn’t it be Paul DePodesta’s job to strategize a path toward avoiding $92 million in cash and cap commitments to a player they’d undoubtedly cut if they could?
Given the magnitude of the remaining payments, a legal fight would be inevitable, if the Browns try to cut Watson off. And that opens the door for a settlement, with reduced guarantees and/or a reduced salary. Watson would have to decide whether to take an all-or-nothing risk in a grievance — or to manage the risk of losing by accepting less than he’s owed.
However it plays out, the Browns specifically stating that Watson rolled his ankle in Miami becomes a strong hint that they’re thinking about their options. As they should be.
Time will tell what they opt to do. Based on the facts as developed during the team’s investigation of how and where and when the ankle was rolled, the Browns might be able to get out from under the worst contract in NFL history.
UPDATE 12:08 p.m. ET: It’s possible that the posted by meet-the-new-Dov-same-as-the-old-Dov predates the original injury, despite the claim for new Dov. Regardless, the point stands. The Browns said Watson rolled his ankle in Miami. If he did it while doing something his contract prohibits or if he was not following his rehab plan, this could get interesting. And expensive. And possibly ugly.
