Longtime Cleveland Browns analyst Tony Grossi said the team could open contract talks with Deshaun Watson if its winning becomes the norm, in a radio clip ESPN Cleveland posted Thursday.
Grossi, a Pro Football Hall of Fame voter who covers the team for 850 ESPN Cleveland and The Land on Demand, also said he hopes the Browns stick to their plan.
The Browns are 5-2 and tied with the Pittsburgh Steelers atop the AFC North. Grossi said that run would have to hold before any talks start.
“If this is a start of something really good, where this becomes the norm rather than the exception, I think there’d be a conversation,” Grossi said. “There’s so many other things, though, to converse about. How long? Price tag? Does Watson want to test the market? Or is he comfortable just being the one-year bridge quarterback?”
“I don’t think they’re at the point of having those conversations, but as long as he keeps playing like this, he’s working his way back if he wants to come back,” Grossi continued. “But I don’t think you want to reinvest long-term in him, and I hope to God that it doesn’t change their plan.”
In a July 23 mailbag for The Land on Demand, Grossi wrote that he saw zero chance of the Browns reinvesting another $200 million-plus in Watson.
Haslam has not tipped his hand.
Browns owner Jimmy Haslam told Jonathan Jones of The Athletic at last week’s NFL league meetings that talking about Watson’s contract was “way premature” and that the team was focused on the Titans. Haslam also credited Watson’s return from his injuries and his late-game drives.
A league source told Jones the door is wide open for Watson to stay in Cleveland. Jones also reported that Watson’s injury history and the sexual misconduct lawsuits he faced could limit his outside market, but that would not necessarily mean a discount on what he asks the Browns for.
Watson added to his case Sunday. He led his fifth game-winning drive of the season in a 27-24 win over the Tennessee Titans, hitting Harold Fannin Jr. for 36 yards to set up Andre Szmyt’s 32-yard field goal as time expired.
Watson completed 25 of 36 passes for 308 yards with an interception and ran for a touchdown. It was his first 300-yard passing game with Cleveland, topping the 289 yards he threw for against Tennessee on Sept. 24, 2023.
According to the Browns, Watson is the third quarterback since the 1970 merger to lead a game-winning drive in each of his team’s first five wins of a season. Troy Aikman did it in 1990 and Matthew Stafford in 2016.
Through seven games, he has a 90.6 passer rating, completing 136 of 210 passes for 1,482 yards with seven touchdowns and three interceptions.
He tore his right Achilles tendon in October 2024, tore it again in January 2025 and missed the entire 2025 season. He entered 2026 with a 9-10 record as Cleveland’s starter.
Houston traded Watson to Cleveland in March 2022 for a package that included three first-round picks. The Browns then signed him to a fully guaranteed five-year, $230 million contract, and this is its final season.
In March, Cleveland restructured the deal for a fourth straight offseason and moved most of his $46 million salary into a bonus. Spotrac lists his 2026 cap hit at $44.96 million. His base salary sits at the veteran minimum.
The December 2024 restructure, as Joel Corry of CBS Sports laid out in February, turned the 2027 and 2028 void years into real contract years at minimum salaries. A $200 million base salary sits in 2029. It becomes fully guaranteed if Watson is still on the roster on the third day of the 2027 league year.
Shedeur Sanders opened the season as Watson’s backup. On Monday, the Browns activated Dillon Gabriel from injured reserve and now carry four quarterbacks on the 53-man roster, Taylen Green included.
The Browns play at Pittsburgh on Sunday. Kickoff at Acrisure Stadium is 1 p.m. ET.
