Steelers Rival Makes Huge Cap Move; Trade Coming?

The Pittsburgh Steelers may have competition in the trade market.

Aug 10, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson (4) after the game against the Green Bay Packers at Cleveland Browns Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports / Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

PITTSBURGH -- The Cleveland Browns are making life a little easier on themselves, and elimiating a problem the Pittsburgh Steelers, and many others, believed they had with quarterback Deshaun Watson. The team has reportedly restructured the deal of their QB, according to ESPN's Field Yates.

With the move, the Browns have changed $44.79 million into a signing bonus, adding $35.832 million in available cap space. As they prepare for the regular season, they now have over $62 million in salary cap space. The most in the NFL.

The Browns have restructured the contract of QB Deshaun Watson, converting $44.79M of his 2024 base salary into a signing bonus and creating $35.832M in cap space, per source.

Cleveland now has over $62M in cap space, the most in the entire NFL. pic.twitter.com/KC9hLWQDT8

— Field Yates (@FieldYates) August 29, 2024

The Browns could be looking to make life a little more challenging for the Steelers, and potentially sneak themselves back into the Brandon Aiyuk conversation. Aiyuk remains away from the San Francisco 49ers, and at this point, the Steelers are the only known team still waiting to learn of a possible trade. However, the Browns have been interested throughout the saga.

Cleveland reportedly gave the 49ers an offer they were interested in, but Aiyuk did not want to go to Cleveland. With the added cap space, the Browns could be looking to juice up their contract offer to the wide receiver, adding enoough to make him reconsider. It's expected they would send wideout Amari Cooper in a trade package for Aiyuk.

Obviously, this is all speculation, but there's typically a reason teams make a move like this. With so much salary cap space, teams are usually inclined to make a splash move. For the Steelers, they restructured linebacker Alex Highsmith's deal, which indicated they were clearing space for a wide receiver trade.

Maybe Cleveland is doing the same with Watson's deal.

Watson signed a fully guaranteed five-year, $230 million deal with the Browns in 2022. In the next two seasons (2025 and 2026), he takes on over a $72 million cap hit for Cleveland.

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