Cleveland Browns: 5 restructure candidates this offseason

2. WR Jarvis Landry

Jarvis Landry has been a big part of the turnaround in Cleveland, but for what he offers on the field, his salary is just too rich. Moving on from Landry would save the team nearly $12 million in space this season.

He’s set to make more than Cooper Kupp, Robert Woods, Adam Thielen, Stefon Diggs, DeAndre Hopkins, among others. He’s a pure slot who gets open against zone coverage in the 1-10 yard range, nothing more. That’s not worth paying nearly $15 million to in an offense that uses two tight ends on the majority of snaps.

If Landry were cut today, there’s no way he’d get anything close to $15 million on the open market. He has to acknowledge that and be willing to head back to the negotiation table. Getting the cap hit down to around $8 million and having all that guaranteed for 2021 and 2022 would be much easier to stomach — although that’s still a ton of space to devote to a player who would ideally be on the field on about 45 percent of snaps.

Everyone knows the contributions that Landry has made from a leadership perspective. But fans, the team, and Landry must all be honest about what he does and doesn’t offer on the field, and what that is actually worth in 2021.