Top 4 Cleveland Browns who could be cap casualties in 2023
By Randy Gurzi
2. Jordan Elliott, Defensive Tackle
Cap Hit: $1.38 million
Pre-June 1: $1.16 million Savings, $224,000 Dead Money
Post-June 1: $1.16 million Savings, $224,000 Dead Money
One thing the Browns deserve criticism for this offseason was their complete inattention to the defensive tackle position. The only additions they made to the weakest spot on their roster was to add a former first-round bust in Taven Bryan and draft Perrion Winfrey in Round 4.
Those two were helping to replace Malik Jackson and Malik McDowell, who started the majority of the 2021 season, but they were primarily expecting Jordan Elliott and Tommy Togiai to step up and assume larger roles this season. So far, that hasn’t happened.
In fact, Togiai and Elliott are two of the lowest-graded defensive tackles in the league according to PFF. After five games. Elliott has just nine tackles and one sack while Togiai has three tackles and a half-sack. Togiai is only in his second season but Elliott is in year three, meaning they’ve seen more of him — and he’s going to have a higher cap hit in 2023.
That could lead to them making a move to save just over $1 million with less than a quarter-million in dead money. It might not be a huge saving when looking at the cap overall, but if they’re already going to have to get a better starter, it would make sense to cut ties and save whatever you could.