Analysis

NFL Cap Hit Rankings: Deshaun Watson Makes NFL Contract History

By Sharp Football Staff on Feb 21, 2023Jul 26, 2023

Never before has an NFL player’s cap hit exceeded $39 million. That all changes this year.

Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson‘s $54,993,000 cap hit in 2023 will be the largest for any player in NFL history.

Watson will hit the Browns’ cap for the same $54,993,000 every single season through 2026 as part of his 5 year, $230 million contract — of which every dollar was guaranteed.

Watson's cap hit represents 21.7% of the Browns' total salary cap
Watson's odds to win MVP this season are +3000
The Browns' odds to win the Super Bowl are +4000

To acquire Watson, the Browns traded three 1st round draft picks (2022, 2023, 2024), a 3rd round pick (2023), and two 4th round picks (2022, 2024)

2023 NFL Cap Hit Rankings

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Rank	Player	Cap Hit	Team	Position
1	Deshaun Watson	$54,993,000	CLE	QB
2	Dak Prescott	$49,130,000	DAL	QB
3	Patrick Mahomes	$46,793,381	KC	QB
4	Josh Allen	$39,772,281	BUF	QB
5	Ryan Tannehill	$36,600,000	TEN	QB
6	Kirk Cousins	$36,250,000	MIN	QB
7	Laremy Tunsil	$35,210,834	HOU	LT
8	Matt Ryan	$35,205,882	IND	QB
9	Tom Brady	$35,104,000	TB	QB
10	Leonard Williams	$32,260,000	NYG	DE
11	Aaron Rodgers	$31,623,568	GB	QB
12	Tyreek Hill	$31,450,000	MIA	WR
13	Joey Bosa	$31,000,000	LAC	OLB
14	Jared Goff	$30,975,000	DET	QB
15	DeAndre Hopkins	$30,750,000	ARI	WR
16	Frank Clark	$30,175,000	KC	DE
17	T.J. Watt	$29,368,694	PIT	OLB
18	Myles Garrett	$29,176,000	CLE	DE
19	David Bakhtiari	$28,789,035	GB	LT
20	Jake Matthews	$28,358,823	ATL	LT

never before has an NFL player’s cap hit exceeded $39M

that all changes this year

Deshaun Watson's $54,993,000 cap hit in 2023 will be the largest for any player in NFL history

Watson will hit the Browns’ cap for the same $54,993,000 every single season thru 2026 pic.twitter.com/1ub6nwe4f5

— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) February 20, 2023