Bringing up Deshaun Watson’s contract when seeking a deal in Cleveland that will to age poorly in 2026 seems like low hanging fruit, but a recent development in the Browns’ offseason could actually make things worse.As things stand, Watson's about to pocket the last $46 million of his five-year $230 million fully guaranteed deal, agreed upon his arrival in Cleveland in 2022 as part of a blockbuster trade that no Browns’ fan remembers fondly.Entering this offseason, general perception was that the team could ride out the last year of Watson’s deal rather painlessly. One season on the sideline holding a clipboard while serving as a mentor for Shedeur Sanders and any other young quarterback sounded like a plan.Yet, Cleveland has opened the door for Watson to continue hampering the Browns financially beyond 2026. First off, the team has been routinely converting base salaries into restructuring bonuses and adding void years at the end of the deal. This was done four times, meaning there are now four dummy years tacked on his contract, running through 2030.And the club is actually considering him seriously for the starting job over Sanders, when so many in Cleveland were ready to just move on. The Browns are, apparently, incapable of doing so. How does Deshaun Watson’s contract affect the Browns in 2026 and beyond?The problem with those void years is that there are cap charges for over $86.2 million still waiting to impact the Browns, even if Watson is off the team as scheduled once the season is over. Once his original five years are up, those dummy years are automatically erased and the remaining cap charges accelerate, meaning the Browns could get dented by a dead cap hit of $86.2 million for 2026. Since the Browns can divide this into two seasons, they'd most likely end up with a dead cap charge of around $35 million in 2027 and $53 million in 2028. .. if he's off the team as scheduled.A common way for teams to deal with a big looming cap charge is to keep kicking it down the road, when those amounts represent less percentage of your cap as it keeps rising. The way to do this is through a contract extension. This is where the cringe sets in.Consider this scenario: What if the Browns name Sanders their starter, but bench him midway through the season? What if Watson actually plays a little better than Sanders? Not enough to sneak Cleveland back into the playoffs, but just barely enough to win a couple of late season contests and miss out on a Top-5 or Top-8 pick, out of elite quarterback prospect range. Could Cleveland be motivated to extend Deshaun Watson?Much to the chagrin of Browns’ fans, general manager Andrew Berry has already stated this as a possibility.“There’s no rule against extending the player’s contract if they perform and they do well,” said Berry back in March, explicitly discussing Watson’s case.Now, the Browns have become "Saints 2.0" when it comes to abusing the “void years” strategy to spread out cap charges over future seasons, and delaying Watson’s hits could come in handy. Remember, Cleveland will have to manage a $14.8 million dead cap charge for David Njoku, an $11.1 million dead cap charge for Wyatt Teller, and a newly acquired $25.5 million dead cap charge for Myles Garrett in 2027 due to void years. Then, there’s a $17 million dead cap charge for Grant Delpit if he isn’t extended, and a massive $30 million cap charge for Denzel Ward if he stays with the team next year without redoing his deal. So potentially Watson could find himself extended on the merit of a couple of meaningless wins and helping the team rearrange it's salary cap situation for the immediate future. How’s that for a deal aging poorly?If that original five-year $230 million fully guaranteed contract didn’t seem bad enough back in 2022, the Browns are now morphing into a textbook case of sunk-cost fallacy, while still being no closer to an answer at the quarterback position. Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow