3 shocking Cleveland Browns who could be cap casualties this offseason
By Chad Porto
The Cleveland Browns may need to get desperate to keep the team under the salary cap.
The Cleveland Browns are not looking great financially. The team has been pushing owed money year after year, and 2023 is the year so many of those debts come to fruition. Austin Hooper’s contract is still on the books, Deshaun Watson is carrying a nearly $55 million cap hit on his own, while Myles Garrett has a nearly $30 million cap hit, and Amari Cooper is at $23 million.
That’s over $107 million just between those three alone. Spotrac has the cap at about $252 million for 2023. As of this point, if the Browns keep their contracts as they are, they’ll be nearly over the cap by nearly $13 million. That’s the estimate they have. Over The Cap has an even bleaker look for the club, with them at $14 million over the cap.
Next year isn’t looking any better, with Over The Cap having the Browns at $9 million over the cap with only the contracts that are active for 2024. Half of the team is coming off the books between now and 2024. That means most of the money owed is due to just a few guys.
While some want to mistakenly claim “the salary cap isn’t real”, it’s very real and it always comes to collect. The Browns can’t keep delaying owed money by restructuring deals. Contrary to the concept, that money doesn’t disappear once the deal is re-done, it’s simply moved to a later date.
That money will count against the cap eventually. Part of the reason the Browns are in this hole, to begin with, is because of contract restructuring, and it’s only going to get worse. Cooper is already on the books for 2025, and he’s not even under contract for that season. Yes, you can further restructure his deal to delay payments but it’s only going to hurt the team more later on.
So just looking towards Watson, Garrett, and Cooper to delay some money now isn’t a long-term fix, it’s still just causing the same problem but for someone else to clean up. No, restructuring isn’t the key, for the Browns to get out of the cap hell they’re in, they need to make major changes.
Cutting or trading guys will still give the Browns dead cap money they have to pay, but they can get out from under most of the money on a few key guys. These guys, however, are very vital. So trading or cutting them isn’t going to be popular, but it may be necessary.
And no, cutting or trading Watson isn’t a realistic option for any other reason than the disgraced ex-Pro Bowler’s contract would literally put the team over the cap if they try moving it.