How Andrew Berry can create additional Cleveland Browns draft picks
3. Use bonus money rules to increase value of players for trades
A third kind of deal is to take advantage of the complex NFL salary cap rules, which build-in a discount for traded players. If the team is willing to take the salary cap hit, they can demand higher draft picks than otherwise possible. Consider, for example, the Duke Johnson trade.
Cleveland took a salary cap hit in the form of Johnson’s guaranteed money $2.35 million while the Texans were given the corresponding discount. That helped to get them to agree to part with a third-round draft pick. This was a win-win trade because Houston needed a running back and the Browns were not getting along with Johnson at the time.
Another example was the Odell Becham, Jr. trade, although in this case the roles were reversed. The Browns were seeking to contend a year ago and were willing to trading away draft picks, while the New York Giants had decided that they were in rebuilding mode.
They received a first-round and a third-round draft pick from Cleveland as well as a former first-round pick in Jabrill Peppers. But the salary cap also comes into play. When OBJ was traded, the Giants 2019 budget was charged for $16 million in bonus money, not the Browns. So, while the Giants were paying OBJ $18 million a year for five years, the Browns are paying about $14 million a year. That discount incentivized the Browns to give up talent to get him.
From the Giants’ perspective, they eat $16 million dollars of OBJ’s bonus money which shows up as 2019 dead money. But from 2020 on, they no longer have to pay OBJ’s salary, which they are able to use for other free agents or to re-sign their own players.
They also got Jabrill Peppers, an improving young player, and defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence, selected with the Browns’ draft pick. Lawrence was graded very highly by Pro Football Focus,19th overall among interior linemen.
The Giants lose in year one, but the outlook is more favorable in the out years. It was not a one-sided trade.
If the Browns had been contenders in 2019 it would have looked like a steal and Dorsey would have been hailed as a genius. As it is, he is the guy that overspent the salary cap by over $20 million on a 6-10 team and now draws snickers from the other front offices in the league.