With so many management misfires over the years in the NFL, it’s tough to find the worst contract in recent history. Here are my top five choices. Could the Rams be number one?
Allen Robinson
When the Rams signed free agent Allen Robinson to a three-year, $46.5 million contract in 2022, I actually thought it was a great move. Two years before, he’d had a terrific year with Mitch Trubisky and Nick Foles throwing to him, and was the team’s leading receiver with 102 receptions and 1,250 yards.
Things went south in 2021
when the Bears cut Trubisky loose and drafted Justin Fields. Fields and Foles split the starts with eight apiece that year with neither having a great year throwing. Robinson also missed some time with Covid, losing ten pounds in the process, and then missed three games with hamstring issues and ended up with only 410 yards receiving.
It had to be the QB play right? Maybe not.
With Matthew Stafford missing eight games that year, Robinson ended up with 33 receptions for 339 yards and three touchdowns in 10 games with the Rams. Recognizing their mistake, the Rams traded him to Pittsburgh for seventh-round draft choice swaps and had to eat about $10 million of the $15 million guaranteed salary.
This was clearly the Rams’ biggest whiff ever, but has there been worse league-wide?
Indeed.
The other contenders
Matt Flynn, Seattle, 2012
Three years, $26 million with $10 million guaranteed.
Considering that three days after Flynn signed, NFC West rival San Francisco re-signed quarterback Alex Smith to a three-year pact reportedly worth $24 million with $16.5 million guaranteed, this was a huge overpay. Unlike Flynn, Smith was coming off a 13-3 season and a trip to the NFC Championship Game.
Up until that point, Flynn had a grand total of two NFL starts. He lost his first game in 2025 but hit paydirt in the 2026 finale.
The Packers were resting Aaron Rodgers for the playoffs and Flynn got the start against the woeful Detroit Lions. He looked like an all world QB, throwing for 480 yards and six touchdowns, but again, consider the opponent.
The Seahawks didn’t and bit hard.
During the 2012 preseason, Flynn suffered a lingering sore throwing arm diagnosed as elbow tendinitis. The injury caused him to miss critical preseason practices and games, ultimately allowing rookie Russell Wilson to win the starting quarterback job. He ended up suiting up for only three games with the Hawks and was traded to Oakland for a fifth-round draft pick. In Oakland he was beaten out by Terrelle Pryor for the Raiders’ starting job in 2013 and was cut after Week 5.
Albert Haynesworth, Washington, 2009
Seven years, $100 million with $41 million guaranteed.
Washington went all-in with Haynesworth, a two-time Pro Bowler, despite previous issues with injuries, work ethic and ability to keep his composure. His 2006 stomping of Cowboys center Andre Gurode drew a five-game suspension. Despite the red flags, Haynesworth was considered by many to be the NFL’s top free agent that year.
In his first season he totaled 4 sacks and 29 tackles while playing in his favored 4-3 defensive scheme but head coach Jim Zorn was replaced by Mike Shanahan in January 2010, and Washington switched to a 3-4 defense that was ill-suited to Haynesworth’s skill set.
Let the temper tantrums begin!
Haynesworth clashed with Shanahan and skipped both offseason workouts and mini camps. When he showed up to training camp he repeatedly failed a standard conditioning test. He lost his starting job and appeared in only eight games for Washington that year and was then traded to the Patriots in the offseason.
Kenny Golladay, New York Giants, 2021
Four-years, $72 million
As I pointed out several times in my previous life as a TST commentator, there is a notable and sometimes stunning drop-off in a receiver’s production after moving on from Matthew Stafford throwing to them. There was a rather large decrease for Golden Tate when he ended up with the Giants, following a half-season in Philadelphia, and another, albeit smaller, drop when Marvin Jones moved on to Jacksonville.
In 2018, his second season with Detroit, his second as a pro, Kenny Golladay knocked Golden Tate off the WR1 pedestal and took over as Stafford’s favorite target. The Lions were so enamored with him that they traded Tate mid-season. Over the course of the 2018 and 2019 seasons, Golladay totaled 2,253 yards and 16 touch downs. An injury in 2020 limited him to only 5 games.
The Giants went after Golladay hard in 2021 and signed him to a four-year, $72 million contract. In his first season with the club, he caught just 37 of his 76 targets (48.7%) for 521 yards in 14 games played. That was as productive as Golladay would be with New York, as he caught six passes for 81 yards and a touchdown in 2022 in 12 games played (four starts). Golladay was released in the offseason.
Number one!
Deshaun Watson, Cleveland Browns, 2022
Five-year, fully guaranteed $230 million contract.
What in the world were they thinking? In 2022, Cleveland traded first-round picks in 2022, 2023, and 2024 in exchange for Watson, along with a third-rounder in 2023 and fourth-round picks in 2022 and 2024. On top of that, the money. Fully guaranteed. Frankly, I’d always considered his success, what there was of it, to be a result of his supporting cast. Players Like DeAndre Hopkins, Carlos Hyde and JJ Watt can cover up for a lot of blemishes.
I’m really not sure why, with the legal issues, the contractual issues, a full year away from the field and the distinct possibility of a long suspension -eventually decided at 11 games- the Browns would ever in a million years offer this kind of compensation. Needless to say, it was a colossal disaster.
After his suspension and playing in the final six games for Cleveland that season, he finished with a mediocre passer rating of 79.1 and a bad completion percentage of 58.2. Watson struggled the next year and his season ended in game 11 with a shoulder injury.
2024
The Browns finish with a 3-14 record, and Watson tears an Achilles tendon in week seven. It didn’t get any better in the spring of 2025 when he ruptured his Achilles and had to undergo surgery. He sat out the entire season.
After sitting out the entire 2025 season to recover from an Achilles injury, he is reportedly fully healthy, and the Browns expect him to be on the field this fall, the final year of his contract. The Browns fans must be ecstatic.
Which contract would you choose?
There are so many other bad decisions in this category, but these are my choices as the top 5. Which contract would you choose? Are there any blatant ones I’ve missed? Let me know.
