Cleveland Browns clear over $13 million in cap space

Andrew Berry made his first major moves as the Cleveland Browns general manager, parting ways with four additions made by John Dorsey.

Four salary cap cuts, as predicted weeks ago, have resulted in the Cleveland Browns clearing enough cap space to potentially sign another major player. Specifically, the Browns have cut cornerback T.J. Carrie, linebacker Adarius Taylor, guard Eric Kush, and tight end Demetrius Harris.

Others will be cut later but are being held onto in case some team wants to trade for them. However, these four had contracts that were too expensive that receiving draft pick compensation is highly improbable. Plus these guys were all hustling, 100 percent effort players, not troublemakers. The front office wants to allow them to have a soft landing if possible, in order to continue their football careers elsewhere.

The result of theses moves is that the Browns are charged for the bonus money, which becomes “dead money” charged to the 2020 cap. According to Overthecap.com, the breakout occurs like so (the other major salary cap experts at Spotrac.com had a slightly different estimate for Carrie, due to a roster bonus which might lower the cap savings by $400,000 if that comes into play. In any case both of the data bases agree that the Browns are going to save over $13 million).

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Player Cap Number Dead Money Cap Savings
T. J. Carrie $8,150,000 $1,800,000 $6,750,000
Demetrius Harris $3,487,500 $1,000,000 $2,487,500
Adarius Taylor $2,940,625 $500,00 $2,440,625
Eric Kush $2,425,000 $350,000 $2,075,000
TOTAL $3,650,000 $13,753,125

Now what about the reports that say that the Browns have around $50 million dollars in cap space? That is a misleading number.

The real number you need to know is the 2020 salary cap allowance, which is estimated to be about $200 million this year. The Browns’ payroll, prior to the cuts, was $176.5 million, according to Overthecap.com, and their 2020 dead money (tax that has to be paid because of trading away players with guaranteed money) is $5.1 million. Do not forget to draft new players this year, and they will want to be paid, so allot $7 to $10 million per year for draft picks.

Also, if the Browns want to keep some of the restricted free agents, that is the team right but it is not free. So we should allow at least $2 million for the likes of Kareem Hunt, Ricky Seals-Jones, KhaDarel Hodge and others. Add it all up, it comes to around $190 million, give or take, meaning that there was only $10 million dollars to add new players or re-sign departing free agents. That payroll was far too bloated. Now, after $13.7 worth of cuts, the Browns have $23 million to work with, which is more reasonable to work with.

However, this is not additional payroll. The Browns are losing several high priced players to free agency. Unrestricted free agents include Joe Schobert, Greg Robinson, Rashard Higgins, Damarious Randall, Eric Murray, Juston Burris and Drew Stanton.

Next. 3 WR options for Browns in 2020 Draft. dark

Because the salary cap is now in better shape, it may be possible to re-sign some key players and still have some money left over to sign one or two additional quality players from this year’s free agent pool.

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