Cleveland Browns’ John Dorsey and the Haslams betting big on 2019

Led by the roster decisions of John Dorsey and the money of Jimmy and Dee Haslam, the Cleveland Browns are going all-in the next couple of seasons.

Don’t look now, but the unthinkable is happening: Cleveland Browns general manager John Dorsey is outspending the rest of the NFL this year, and the Haslam’s are signing his checks.

The Browns had been hoarding salary cap, taking over $55 million in extra “carryover” dollars to the 2019 off-season, in addition to their yearly cap. The 2019 annual cap is $188.2 million. Most of us presumed that they were saving most of that for Myles Garrett and Baker Mayfield, who will want to get paid in a few years.

Feel free to criticize the Haslam’s, but one thing they are not is cheap. They have always written huge checks to get the best coaching staff they could find – though sometimes they have had some difficulty in getting it right – and they are writing massive checks this year for players who are giving the Browns one of the highest payrolls in the NFL. The depleted salary structure of 2016-2017 was not due to frugality on the part of the owners, but part of a plan by Sashi Brown to hoard cap space for 2019 and beyond.

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Dorsey and the Haslam’s are going for it right now. The Browns current payroll is $190.5 million plus another $18.9 million in “dead money” charged for players who are no longer with the team (see Browns salary cap ). Total cap charges are thus $209.4 million, or $21.2 million higher than the yearly cap, and that doesn’t include the money that will be paid to new draft picks. The excess is being paid for by the carryover money that was stashed away by Brown. The Browns still have quite a bit left – about $32 million after the new draftees are signed. But at this rate it will be gone by 2021 or 2022. This three-year window is the prime opportunity for the Browns to be in the “Big Game.”

For the most part, the Browns have not taken the opportunity to cut cap-heavy contracts. The major exception was linebacker Jamie Collins, who was being paid at the rate of an All-Pro while playing good-but-not-great ball for the Browns. Cap savings of $9.2 million made cutting him a no-brainer.  But by not cutting halfback Duke Johnson and defensive back T.J. Carrie before the official start of the league year last week, their 2019 salaries became guaranteed. They could still be traded, though their high salaries will make that difficult.

2019 is a far cry from the 2017 team that went 0-16, with active charges for only $106 million.  Put it this way, by spending $84 million in additional salaries, the talent level of the team cannot help but be dramatically improved. John Dorsey may be a genius – and he is – but even the worst general manager would also be able to improve the team with that kind of budget growth. It’s not rocket science.

The Draconian rebuilding era instituted by Sashi Brown is officially over. Now it is time to bring the spending level up to the level of everyone else, and even higher. They have stars in Mayfield, Garrett, Joe Schobert and Denzel Ward playing on rookie contracts (i.e., discounted compared to their value) AND they are outspending the rest of the NFL, so why shouldn’t they be at the very top of the list of favorites for the Super Bowl?

After the carryover dollars are gone, there will be a day of reckoning. Several high salaried stars are going to have to go to, especially when it is time to make room for soon-to-be-mega-salaried Garrett and Mayfield. Garrett will be in the class of Trey Flowers at $18 million or so (in 2019 dollars, which will actually inflate another six percent or so per year), and Mayfield is headed for over $30 million per year. Keeping both of these players will be tough. Garrett is eligible for an extension in 2020, and Baker in 2021. It goes without saying that Odell Beckham Jr. is eligible for an extension right now. At some point he may become a thorn in John Dorsey’s side, much like Antonio Brown became for Pittsburgh and their general manager Kevin Colbert.

As long as they have Mayfield and Garrett, they will still be a good team, but the talent level will probably never be higher than it is now.

The next three years promise to be quite a ride.