The Guaranteed Deal

One quarterback got $230 million,

fully guaranteed.

What happened next triggered a legal battle over whether the NFL tried

to make sure a contract like that never happened again.

In March 2022, the Cleveland Browns traded three first-round draft picks

— along with additional picks — to the Houston Texans to land

quarterback Deshaun Watson.

Then they made him the first player in NFL history

to get a fully guaranteed five-year contract.

Every single penny — $230 million — locked in,

no matter what happened on the field.

Days later, at the league's own owners meeting in Palm Beach,

Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti said the quiet part out loud to reporters:

'Damn, I wish they hadn't guaranteed the whole contract...

it'll make negotiations harder with others.'

Within a year, his own team would be negotiating a new deal

with quarterback Lamar Jackson — and Watson's contract was the number everyone

in that room was

thinking about.

Here's where it gets controversial.

According to the arbitration ruling that followed,

commissioner Roger Goodell and NFL general counsel Jeff Pash

supported an effort urging team owners to limit the growth of fully

guaranteed contracts

after Watson's deal.

The players' union filed a formal grievance,

accusing the league of pushing teams toward illegal collusion.

The case went through about two and a half years of arbitration.

In January 2025, an arbitrator ruled

there wasn't enough evidence that teams had actually entered into an illegal

agreement

— so no damages were awarded.

But he confirmed, in writing,

that the league's top officials had encouraged owners to restrict guaranteed money.

In 2026, a three-person appeals panel upheld that ruling,

calling the league's effort 'improper' and writing:

'We cannot fathom these sophisticated businesspeople did not comprehend they were being

encouraged to limit or reduce

guaranteed contracts.'

The union never proved teams actually colluded.

But the league's own push to stop deals like this was confirmed,

in writing, by two separate rulings.

Four years later, Watson's contract is still the only one of its

kind

— a fully guaranteed,

five-year deal no other quarterback has ever gotten. (hummmm)