The 3 most disappointing offseason moves by Cleveland Browns
By Greg Newland
Disappointing Offseason Move No. 2 – Contract Structures
One thing that has continued to catch me off guard, is the way that Andrew Berry structures his agreements. On many of the one-year deals, he continues to put in a large number of void years, and on the large extensions, he pushes so much of the salary to the last two years of the deal.
Before you all start screaming, I understand how this works and that a lot of teams do this and just continue to restructure or cut the player. My confusion on the structure is that the Cleveland Browns still have plenty of cap space to spend the money now.
Anthony Walker and Jadeveon Clowney (still not official on the structure) are perfect examples. They are one-year deals with up to four years of voided contracts which means we will be paying them long after they are even on this roster.
If you look at the Myles Garrett, Denzel Ward, and Deshaun Watson agreements, they alone will be over $110 million of cap space in 2026. I know, I’m getting way too far ahead of myself, but I have seen teams like the Saints and Steelers play this salary game so long, and eventually catch up and bite you.
One thing I know is Berry is far smarter than me, but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t worried about how the team will handle the cap in a few years.