4 Cleveland Browns who may not get extensions after Deshaun Watson trade

The Cleveland Browns have gone all-in to win now, but it could hurt them retaining young talent moving forward with limited cap availability.

Andrew Berry and the Cleveland Browns have made two things clear this offseason. One, they intend to win and win now. And two, they didn’t feel comfortable with Baker Mayfield overseeing this plan.

I’ve said from the beginning, no player is untouchable in a trade to land a guy as talented as Deshaun Watson. So, I feel the same way on picks. I know we won’t get to see the Browns have a pick in Round 1 for the next three seasons, but I also know the chances of landing an elite quarterback in those three drafts is slim to none.

I don’t want to act like Mayfield did nothing for this organization, but I also won’t act like he deserves a statue. He’s the first steady quarterback the organization has had since returning in 1999. He not only led the Browns to the playoffs; he got the first playoff win since 1994 which just happened to come on the road in Pittsburgh.

But Mayfield took this team as far as he could. If healthy next season he may have easily gotten the team back into the playoffs, but they aren’t competing with the Chargers, Bills, or Chiefs without an elite quarterback.

There’s no argument now that the Browns don’t have an elite quarterback. Watson is arguably top-five in the league. Off the field issues aside, I love the execution by Andrew Berry to get him to Cleveland. The next big hurdle, figuring out how to manage to salary cap moving forward.

With a huge contract and a lot of guarantees, Watson is going to be expected to carry a huge load, because you just can’t pay everyone when you have a $230 million quarterback. Here are four guys who likely won’t be extended because of the money given to Watson.