Do the Browns actually need to restructure Deshaun Watson?

With free agency on the cusp of starting, and the "non-tamper" window being bust in half, the Cleveland Browns will be looking to add to a roster that, while beset by injuries to key players, made it to the playoffs and then they just didn't play the game right? That's how that went, for sure. Either way, there are holes across a roster that looks to be threading the needle of an open window of contention with the aging of core players, return from devastating injuries for others, and expanding payroll numbers for most of the roster. With the restructuring of some players and converting base salaries into bonuses to spread the hit across multiple years for others, general manager Andrew Berry finds himself with just over $17 million in cap space ((As of publishing. More could come at any point via different avenues.)) as he tries to find a complementary pass rusher across from Myles Garrett and a wideout that can take the top off opposing defenses to pair with Amari Cooper plus other spots.There are multiple levers Berry can pull: he's already converted Denzel Ward's and Jedrick Wills' deals to bonuses, and Cooper plus Nick Chubb should be available for restructures and/or extensions to help alleviate the burden for 2024. Cooper seems on a path to becoming a Browns legend even in his short time in Cleveland while Chubb already is and seems set to miss some time in 2024 and a renegotiation of his $15m cap number in 2024 seems to be in order. But would the possible $30-35 million in cap be enough to help patch the holes in Cleveland's ship? The big shiny lever that triggers every impulse to pull pull pull is Deshaun Watson's huge deal. A $63,977,000 cap number is as big as any number across the league, and better quarterback deals done after him such as Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen haven't hit that number yet.Cleveland can recoup up to $33 million in cap space by moving money around on Watson's deal. But the real question is...will they? Again...every impulse is to do it because that seems like the plan the entire time, but they are in a very weird spot with Watson at the moment. His play has been less than desired when he's been able to be on the field, and a recap is in order. In 2022, he played in the last six games of the season and nobody expected much from him and boy did he deliver a lukewarm experience. Last season was when he was supposed to take off, but his season was beset by weirdness from the jump. An uneasy Week 1 that could be blamed on the weather and losing right tackle Jack Conklin, followed by Week 2's Chubb debacle that left the team shellshocked was trailed on the rollercoaster by the high-point Week 3 win over the Tennessee Titans. Week 3 was Watson's best game of the year but also where he originally got dinged in the shoulder, which caused him to miss three-and-three-quarters-worth of games. A drubbing of Arizona and a second half against Baltimore where he didn't miss a pass was all he had left before succumbing to a broken shoulder capsule that would require surgery.So is Cleveland going to double down on their guy, pushing more money back to make 2024 realistic as a contending situation, or will they kick the proverbial can down the road? The way Watson's deal is set up, the summer of 2026 is the "get out" from under Watson's mega-deal, as 2024  through 2026 are the peak of his cap number. The deal is not set to go over the $63.9m cap hit he's due in 2024 without a restructuring. Cutting or trading him prior to that point is nigh impossible for the Browns. Even designating him as a post-June 1 cut wouldn't alleviate enough to make it work, as cuts in 2024 or 2025 would mean dead money hits of $155.9m and $109.9m, respectively, and that's *with* the stretching over two seasons from the post-June 1 designation. The numbers would be even bigger without. But after the 2025 season, Watson's dead money before and post-June 1 would be $72.9m and $63.9m, again respectively, which while hurtful would be enough to stomach if he has become an albatross for the organization. The previous "biggest hits in dead money" would be this year's hit in Denver from the Russell Wilson contract: $49m in dead money to move off of the veteran QB, with the 2025 year being the 4th highest with $35m. These numbers are palatable for some because there are worse things than taking your medicine for one-to-two seasons...you could be the New Orleans Saints who seemingly are always cash-strapped and have the Sisypheian task of going year-to-year with redoing deals.I don't have my calculator to know what Watson's deal would look like in the future after re-doing 2024. Adding "void" years would keep the increase minimal but would further tie themselves to someone they can't fully be sure is good anymore. The Athletic's Zac Jackson listed his Browns free agency targets in 2024, and enough of those to the 2024 roster that you'd feel primed for another run would mean more than what they have available to spend. Are guys like Amari Cooper and Nick Chubb going to move money around or commit to more years with the franchise while they let Watson collect his record-breaking salary? Is the front office content with pushing the limit with Watson, possibly hamstringing their ability to pay players in future years, to capitalize on the window they have with Garrett and Ward and Chubb and Cooper and Joel Bitonio and Wyatt Teller and David Njoku? Free agency starts on March 13th, next Wednesday, at 4:00 pm. We will likely know before then what they are willing to do and who they might be targeting, but this is the moment for Cleveland.