Mike Florio messed up. He knows it. And he said so pretty clearly this week after claiming the Cleveland Browns were sitting on nearly $89 million in salary cap credits tied to Deshaun Watson’s injury guarantee structure.
The NBC Sports reporter and Pro Football Talk founder walked back his initial report after contract analysts at Over The Cap pushed back hard. What started as a story about an eye-popping $88.781 million in staggered cap credits from 2024 to 2029 turned into a very public correction. Florio called it a misreading of the NFLPA’s accounting ledger and admitted he nearly fell “into the abyss” trying to parse the league’s financial records without a guide.
So what’s the real number?
After scrambling to get actual clarity, Florio brought in a contract specialist to decode the hidden line items. The revised figure? About $25.8 million in cap credits for Watson’s missed games in 2023, 2024, and 2025. Not $89 million. Not even close.
The confusion came down to how the NFLPA accounts for future restructures. According to the source Florio worked with, a $3.9 million credit that first shows up in the 2026 breakdown — following a March 2026 restructuring — will repeat four more times, inflating the long-term total if you don’t know what you’re looking at.
“Per the source with whom we collaborated, the actual cap credit for the games missed in 2023, 2024, and 2025 will be $25.824 million,” Florio wrote.
That’s still real money. But it’s not franchise-altering flexibility.
What this means for the Browns QB situation
This is where it gets interesting for Cleveland. The lower credit number suggests one of two things: either the Browns didn’t buy the maximum allowable insurance on Watson’s $230 million fully guaranteed deal, or the insurance company imposed limits that capped the payout. Either way, the financial cushion is thinner than originally speculated.
Watson is still expected to start under new coach Todd Monken. ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported that league insiders view Watson as the likely Week 1 guy. But Shedeur Sanders — the sophomore who showed real growth last season — has closed the gap. The Browns will have to let this play out in training camp with genuine competition.
That’s the part that matters most right now. Less cap relief means fewer excuses. If Watson struggles again, the front office can’t hide behind an insurance windfall. They’ll have to make a football decision with football stakes. And Sanders has given them a reason to think about it.
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