We noted yesterday that other owners are surely not happy with Browns owner Jimmy Haslam’s decision to give Deshaun Watson a big raise and a fully guaranteed contract. Now one owner has confirmed that.
Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti said today that the Browns’ decision to give Watson that five-year, $230 million fully guaranteed contract is not a positive development from Bisciotti’s perspective.
“I don’t know that he should’ve been the first guy to get a fully guaranteed contract. To me, that’s something that is groundbreaking, and it’ll make negotiations harder with others,” Bisciotti said.
It’s easy to see why other franchise quarterbacks will be salivating at the idea of going to their teams and demanding a contract as good as Watson’s — and why other owners will be loathe to go along with the precedent set by Haslam and the Browns.
For Watson to be rewarded with such a lucrative guaranteed contract after refusing to play last year and being accused of sexual misconduct by 22 women is certainly a bad look for the NFL. But now that the Browns have shown what a franchise quarterback is worth — even a franchise quarterback with those kinds of red flags — plenty of other franchise quarterbacks will be looking for similarly lucrative guaranteed deals.