The worst NFL trade of the last 10 years? This one takes the crown: “It might just be the worst trade in NFL history”

The Cleveland Browns has some big decisions to make ahead of the 2025 NFL season.

Their quarterback room is packed with veterans Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett, alongside the newer additions Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders. But while those four names are vying for the starter’s jersey, there’s another injured star who finds himself consigned to the inactive list.

When the Browns signed Deshaun Watson from the Houston Texans in 2022 they handed him a five-year deal worth a massive $230 million. At the time it was one of the biggest contracts in NFL history.

Watson had been a three-time Pro Bowler with the Texans and finished as the league’s passing yards leader in 2020. But all that unraveled when he moved to the Browns, beginning his career there with an 11-game suspension for sexual harassment allegations dating back to his time in Houston.

Once he was able to return to the field he suffered a series of injuries including a season-ending shoulder fracture in Week 10 of 2023. Watson was able to play seven games in 2024 and led the Browns to a pitiful 1-6 record.

In a recent run-down of each NFL team’s worst trade of the last ten years, Bleacher Report singled out the Watson trade for particular criticism: “This wasn’t just the Cleveland Browns’ worst trade of the last decade, it might just be the worst trade in NFL history.”

It’s a view that is shared by the Browns’ front office, who are still responsible for paying out the remainder of his enormous salary. Earlier this year team owner Jimmy Haslam told reporters, via Cleveland.com, that they had made a big mistake.

“We took a big swing and miss with Deshaun,” Haslam said. “We thought we had the quarterback, we didn’t and we gave up a lot of draft picks to get him. So we’ve got to dig ourselves out of that hole. (It) was an entire organization decision and it ends with Dee and I, so hold us accountable.”

“It would be great if we could get ‘the quarterback,’ but we’re not going to force it,” Haslam said ahead of this year’s draft. “We’re going to be patient and we’re going to try to accumulate as many really good football players as we can.”

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