3 Free Agents left for the Cleveland Browns to sign before 2022 training camp
By Greg Newland
After re-singing Jadeveon Clowney, the holes on the Cleveland Browns roster continue to shrink. These 3 veteran free agents still make sense.
The Cleveland Browns made headlines again on Sunday afternoon as the team finally inked a deal with a standout pass rusher, Jadeveon Clowney.
This was a deal that many expected to happen for the last few weeks, but every day that passed many began to wonder if it would ever happen.
The good news for the Browns, they retained Clowney on a one-year deal worth up to $11 million for next season, and there were multiple reports that he had offers in the $14-15 million per year range.
It’s great to get a hometown discount, but this just shows that Clowney understands the situation. Not only can he win in Cleveland, but he also is paired with Myles Garrett who is one of the most dominant pass-rushing ends in the league. This means that Clowney will see far more single-team blocks with the Browns, than any other team he may have joined.
The bad news, is I’m not in love with the contract structure for Clowney, the details aren’t final, but it appears there will be four void years of the contract which just means guaranteed dead money (and they already have $3 million in dead money this season from Clowney’s deal a year ago).
Andrew Berry is far smarter than me, but this is becoming a bit of a habit of just kicking the can down the road on salaries. Additionally, I think the front office would have loved to get a multi-year deal done to keep Clowney in brown and orange.
Either way, the Browns defensive end room went from lackluster to loaded in just one singing. Garrett and Clowney are arguably the best starting tandem in the league with Chase Winovich and a few young guys as excellent options for the rotation.
The holes are starting to fill quickly, but with these last few additional, the Browns roster will be stacked.