Who is the most overpaid Cleveland Brown entering the 2020 season?
By Greg Newland
Who is the most overrated Cleveland Browns player
The Cleveland Browns currently have the most cap space in the NFL, but they have a lot of young talent that will need to be paid in the next few years. So far, first-year general manager Andrew Berry has been a wizard when crafting new deals.
He has managed to sign Austin Hooper, Jack Conklin, and Case Keenum all while keeping the cap flexibility of giving Myles Garrett a massive extension that is much deserved. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t some contracts on the team that get questioned.
Brad Gagnon of Bleacher Report published an article this morning listing the most overpaid player of each team in the NFL. For the Browns, he selected none other than defensive end Olivier Vernon. Vernon is in his final season of a five-year, $85 million-dollar contract that included $52.5 million of guaranteed money.
Keep in mind, the Browns didn’t pay all this contract money to Vernon, they traded for him before the 2019 season and recently adjusted his $15.5 million salary for 2020 down to $11 million. While Vernon hasn’t had more than 8.5 sacks in a season since 2013, this doesn’t mean he hasn’t been productive.
After a slow adjustment to the Browns scheme in 2019, Vernon really came on before a knee injury that would slow him down the rest of the season. While Vernon only had 3.5 sacks in 10 games last year, he did a fine job of sitting the edge and making the quarterback uncomfortable in the pocket. It’s tough to assume Vernon will be healthy in 2020, but if he is, look for him to be a surprising star on the defense.
While $11 million in 2020 is slightly high, it’s tough to argue a productive starter is the most overpaid player on the team. Vernon isn’t even in the realm of highest-paid at his position with multiple players over $20 million per year. Too often defensive ends are judged purely on sacks, and Vernon has gotten a bad rap.
Truthfully, the Browns roster doesn’t have a ton of guys who appear overpaid, but it’s tough to look past Odell Beckham and Jarvis Landry when putting this list together. The Browns had two of the top eleven highest-paid wide receivers in the league last season and they combined for a lousy 10 touchdowns.
In 2020 Landry will be making just over $15 million with Beckham making $18 million. It’s truly picking the lesser of two evils on who’s the most overpaid. Landry had better stats last, but many of the yards came in garbage time.
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While the Browns are fortunate to have the luxury to pay two wide receivers, there needs to be a little bit more production before you can say anyone else on this roster is “overpaid”.