Cleveland Browns 2020 big bucks players: Who stays, who goes?

Players to Keep

The top four players on the list should be kept: Olivier Vernon, Odell Beckham, Jr. Jarvis Landry, and Joel Bitonio. They’re not necessarily bargains, but cutting them and then spending the same dollars on another free agent is not likely to offer significant improvement.

It’s not the case that expensive signings are always better than less expensive signings, but it just has worked out that way this year. The guys making the big bucks are doing a good job.

That said, if there is an opportunity to trade a big salary for a haul of draft picks, the Browns should take the deal. This was recently illustrated by the Raiders and Bears, as superstar defender Khalil Mack went to Chicago for two first-round draft picks.

Everyone thought that Oakland got ripped off, but what they forgot or did not understand was that Mack was going to cost $20 million to the salary cap in 2020 and beyond. That sum of money can be used to sign two or three really good players in addition to the first-round picks.

Predictably, Oakland is now on the rise, and Da Bears look like the polar bear in Inconvenient Truth, crying forlornly on a shrinking chunk of sea ice as it slowly warms and melts under him.

At this writing, the Raiders are 6-4 and the Bears are 4-6. It was okay last year, but now without a first-round draft pick, the Bears are finding it difficult to improve their team.