When does the Cleveland Brows have to be under the cap by?

The Cleveland Browns have to shed some serious money and fast.

The Cleveland Browns need to shed some serious cash and fast. They’re not only over the cap, but they also still need to improve the roster. That means going out of their way to find some inexpensive free agents, maybe trading a few guys, and definitely drafting as well as ever. How are they going to do all that with their current cap figure, however?

Depending on what resource you use, the team is either over the cap by $14.1 million (via Over The Cap) or $17.7 (via Spotrac) Either way, the team needs to at least clear double the amount just to be able to function properly in the offseason. Teams had to have their franchise tags in by Tuesday afternoon, signaling the start of free agency on the horizon.

The team doesn’t have long to do so either, as all teams have to be cap compliant by March 15, at 4 PM ET. Ironically, this is also the official start time for the NFL’s new year, I.E., the start of free agency. Players go fast in the NFL’s free agency, so the Browns can’t really wait around to shed money and maybe get lucky down the road.

They can stagger contracts, and load up the back ends of the deals, but even then you may not find a lot of guys willing to wait to get paid.

How much money should the Cleveland Browns realistically look to clear?

To function, the Browns will need to clear roughly $30 million. That’ll put them around $13-15 million under the cap. They can get a few cheap free agents, sign their draft picks, and prepare themselves for round two of the Salary Cap wars in 2024.

To excel, they’ll have to find about $40-45 million. The better free agents won’t come cheap and you never know who has some outstanding debts that need to be paid off sooner rather than later. So not everyone can take back-loaded deals.

The Browns can get there by re-working the Deshaun Watson contract and trading any combination of Joel Bitonio, Wyatt Teller, or Nick Chubb after June 1.

Of course, cutting John Johnson III will also help reduce the cap, as none of his owed $9 million is guaranteed. Though once that goes through on March 15, they’ll still need to shed another $5-7 million to just get under the cap. Not to mention the fact that they’ll have to replace him as well.