Cleveland appears headed toward a breakup with Deshaun Watson after 2026, but a strong season could create one last bizarre contract decision for the Browns.

The Cleveland Browns and Deshaun Watson are supposedly approaching the end.

Then football happened.

Cleveland is 2-1, Watson has thrown five touchdowns against one interception, and suddenly a question that sounded absurd a month ago isn’t completely ridiculous: What if the Browns want him back?

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Here’s where it gets weird.

Watson is finishing the five-year, $230 million fully guaranteed contract Cleveland handed him after acquiring him from Houston. Because the Browns spent years restructuring that deal, the bill doesn’t disappear when the season ends.

And keeping the current contract isn’t a realistic option.

A massive future salary guarantee kicks in if Watson remains on the existing deal too long into March. So Cleveland essentially has to pull the plug on this contract.

That doesn’t necessarily mean it has to pull the plug on Watson.

The Browns could theoretically release him, absorb the ugly dead-money consequences and then attempt to bring him back under a completely different contract.

Yes, really.

That’s where Watson’s performance becomes fascinating.

Through three games, he’s completed 68.3 percent of his passes for 587 yards, while Cleveland has won two straight. He’s hardly playing MVP football, but he has been considerably better than the version that made his contract look radioactive.

If that continues for 17 games, Cleveland faces an uncomfortable question.

Do you finally walk away because you’ve spent years trying to escape this contract?

Or do you decide the quarterback you’ve already paid $230 million is suddenly your best available option?

The money would have to change dramatically.

Watson isn’t getting another $46-million-per-year Cleveland contract based on a few decent Sundays. But a short-term deal in the $15 million-$25 million annual range, perhaps loaded with incentives, isn’t inconceivable if he stays healthy and wins games.

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And that’s the wonderfully bizarre Browns part of this.

After years spent trying to escape Deshaun Watson’s contract, Cleveland could finally reach the exit—

and then invite Watson right back through the front door.