Cleveland Browns: Wyatt Teller must be extended ASAP

Let’s make a deal

The Browns have plenty of big contracts to give out in the future; Baker Mayfield (hopefully) and Denzel Ward are the two main examples, with other players like Joel Bitonio, Larry Ogunjobi due for potential extensions as well. The Browns have been saving plenty of rollover cap to pay their best players, but with the 2021 salary cap expected to go down due to the ongoing pandemic, cap space will be more valuable than ever. That’s why it’s so important that Cleveland gets a deal done with Teller as soon as possible.

Yes, he’s had only three games of elite play. But Teller was solid previously, and his dramatic improvement has come against two very good defensive lines in the Baltimore Ravens and Washington Football Team, and the Cincinnati Bengals boast D.J. Reader, one of the league’s premier run stoppers. Teller is not beating up on bottom-feeders; he’s doing it against really good competition, and that should make fans and the front office confident that he’ll continue playing at a high level for years to come.

Cleveland should offer Teller a four or five-year deal worth around $6 to $7 million yearly, which would value him around the same as Billy Turner of the Green Bay Packers. Teller is a much better player than Turner, but may be willing to accept a contract of similar value because of his limited sample size. He will be a free agent following the 2021 campaign, so it is better to do this now than to wait and give Teller more leverage.

Berry can maneuver the yearly salary and add team outs as he pleases, but the bottom line is that extending Wyatt Teller needs to be priority number one for the Cleveland Browns.