As noted by cap expert Jack Duffin, restructuring Watson’s contract regularly actually lessens the percent of his overall cap hit while still paying him and costing against the cap $230 million:
By restructuring the deal each year the same $230m costs you 12.71% less of salary cap by spreading out these cap hits. The key thing to remember with the restructure, you don’t have to spend that money now, everything created is going to be rolled into next year. Which in turn creates natural flexibility and is the key framework of their spending philosophy, read more on it here: Understanding The Cleveland Browns Spending Philosophy & Why It Is Sustainable
According to the NFLPA, Cleveland has around $20 million in salary cap space to rollover for this year. According to Over the Cap, the Watson restructure would give Berry around $20 million in cap space to spend at the start of free agency. As noted, a number of other contract restructures and post-June 1st cuts could push that number significantly higher.