5 Cleveland Browns who are coming back no matter what
By Chad Porto
The Cleveland Browns will be retooling their roster but these five players aren’t going anywhere.
The Cleveland Browns have a lot of improvements they need to do after the 2022 season ends. Players are going to be dealt, some will be cut, others will be re-signed and some who may need to be moved won’t or can’t be.
The biggest areas of improvement for the team are at receiver, defensive tackle, linebacker, and safety in no particular order. They aren’t the only positions that need to be improved, obviously, as you could always use some more offensive linemen and you may be in need of cornerback depth. Don’t forget about replacing Jadeveon Clowney, who needs to be replaced at his current salary.
If he wants to take less, sure, bring him back, but he isn’t the elite player he was sold to be by many in the media.
The problem with retooling the roster is that some guys with current contracts will need to be let go. That means eating a portion of what they are owed. Whether that means you release them or trade them, you’re still going to owe them. Now, some will say the cap isn’t real, and that you can just restructure the money to get around the cap. Sure, that works, but it doesn’t work how people think it does.
You don’t get to a point where that owed money is no longer owed. Restructuring the deal just pushes off the date it’s owed. There are examples of taking less money, like with Baker Mayfield. He took money off his contract so he could get traded, but getting traded (in theory) was a good thing for him, as he gave him a chance to play right away. Otherwise, he would’ve been deactivated all season.
So in that instance, yes, the Browns actually did get out of some owed money, but nearly every time a player gets their deal restructured, they’re not agreeing to take less money, they’re just agreeing to a delayed payment.
That’s why these five names are on the list. They’re players who have had up-and-down seasons in 2022 and are too expensive to move in any way shape or form. Even if you restructure the contracts.
We’ll be doing several of these lists over the coming days, so keep an eye out for them.