Cleveland Browns: 7 players who could be gone after the 2021 season

7 Cleveland Browns players who could be entering their final season with the team

The Cleveland Browns are legitimate Super Bowl contenders and should be for as long as Baker Mayfield plays well.

Good teams cannot keep all their players, however, and general manager Andrew Berry will have some tough decisions to make very soon.

Here are seven players whose days may be numbered. Some are more obvious than others, and some will hurt more than others, but thus is the life of a good NFL team.

7. QB Case Keenum

It was odd when Cleveland signed Keenum to a three-year $18 million contract last year, as he will count $7.3 million (10th on the team) for the team to pray he never sees the field. There are plenty of worse backups in the league, but if Mayfield misses any significant time, the Browns aren’t going anywhere with Keenum, so it really doesn’t make sense to pay him so much.

He will cost $1.3 million in dead cap if cut next offseason, but moving on would result in a net increase of $6.5 million in space, so it is a near certainty that Mayfield will be backed up by someone else in 2022.

6. S Ronnie Harrison Jr.

Acquired from the Jacksonville Jaguars for just a fifth-round pick, Harrison took a few weeks to get up to speed in the Cleveland defense, but once he did, he played like one of the league’s better safeties. He dealt with various injuries, but was an invaluable member of the defense.

His contract is up after this season, and assuming full health, is likely to be the third safety in the rotation after John Johnson III and Grant Delpit. That is a borderline starting position in Joe Woods’ defense, but Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah can also help to fill that role.

Harrison may want to be a full-time starter, and may very well play himself out of the range that the team is willing to pay him.