Cleveland Browns 3 worst contracts heading into training camp
By Greg Newland
No. 2 – John Johnson
In 2021 the Cleveland Browns made it a top priority to improve a defense that was a liability for much of 2020. Bringing in John Johnson from the L.A. Rams was one of the biggest additions that Berry made last offseason.
I don’t have the Johnson deal on this list because I think he is a bad player, it’s just a bad contract for the organization. Not only is there no way out of the deal with so much dead money in 2023, but there are also three void years in the deal with a ton of money tied to it.
To put things into perspective, Johnson is under contract through 2023, but the Browns will be paying him an additional $15 plus million over the next three years. So not only is Jimmy Haslam writing a check to a guy who isn’t on the roster, that money will come out of the Browns cap space as well.
I don’t care how good of a player you are; how can a team justify all the void years when they have so much salary cap now? I get it, the money can roll to the next season, the salary cap will continue to go up, and Berry can certainly restructure guys each offseason to make things work.
That’s all fine and dandy, but that usually happens after a team has been established like the New Orleans Saints for years, or Tampa Bay now. The Browns have a loaded roster with a ton of void years (not just Johnson), and they have won only one playoff game in the last two and half decades.