Miami Hurricanes quarterback and Heisman hopeful Cam Ward couldn’t play the position much better than he has through six games this season. By contrast, Deshaun Watson of the Cleveland Browns couldn’t do the job much worse.

Cleveland is 1-5 this year, while Watson ranks 31st in the NFL with a QBR of 21.7 and has yet to eclipse 200 yards passing in a single game. As ugly of a picture as all that paints on the surface, circumstances are actually considerably worse for the Browns upon a deeper dive.

Watson is playing in the third season of a five-year contract worth $230 million, which is fully guaranteed. That means that Cleveland is stuck paying him the balance of the deal no matter the circumstances, and that severely limits the team’s options to replace him.

The only real choice is to land a rookie QB who will still earn a good deal of money, but who Cleveland can pay reasonably compared to the standard contracts at the position across the league, which are booming and will continue to trend upward with each passing year.

Bleacher Report’s NFL Scouting Department on Monday, October 14, authored a potential solution to the Browns’ problems at QB and, at the same time, predicted where Ward might land come draft night next April 24.

“There are very few good ways forward for the Browns when it comes to Deshaun Watson’s contract,” B/R wrote. “One thing the Browns could do is to make Watson the most expensive backup quarterback in NFL history or release him with a post-June 1 designation next season. Either way, the Browns would need a starting quarterback on a rookie contract. Taking one of the top signal-callers in the draft would allow them to make that kind of decision, and there’s a lot to like about Cam Ward.”

Ward is leading the FBS in most major categories this season with 2,219 passing yards, 20 TDs and a passer efficiency rating of 182.4, per Football Reference. The Hurricanes are currently 6-0 and ranked 6th overall in the country.

If the draft were held today, the Browns would own the No. 2 pick in the first round behind only the New England Patriots.