The offseason to-do list for general manager Andrew Berry, or whoever’s in charge of the Cleveland Browns’ front office, will be sizable when it comes to constructing the team's 2026 roster.
While the 4-12 Browns have been buoyed by an extraordinary 2025 rookie class, the team’s biggest question marks fall at quarterback, offensive tackle, and wide receiver. Berry deserves his flowers for landing proven Year 1 producers like LB Carson Schwesinger, TE Harold Fannin Jr., and RB Quinshon Judkins, but his roster will be firmly under the microscope over the coming months thanks to the team’s 26 pending free agents (including eight Week 1 starters from this year) and next to no wiggle room from a salary cap perspective.
Cleveland currently holds 10 selections in the 2026 NFL Draft, and while the potential to land a first-round, franchise quarterback is on the mind of every Browns fan, it could behoove the team to first improve the roster around the QB position. At the start of the new league year, the Browns should be in the market for offensive tackles, guards, centers, wide receivers — and even tight ends, with veteran David Njoku scheduled to hit free agency. And with the team currently projected to be about $11 million over the 2026 salary cap number, per Over the Cap, it’s safe to assume it will fill the bulk of those needs during April’s draft.
The first order of business is painfully obvious: Deshaun Watson and his pending $80-plus million cap hit. The Browns can reduce that number in multiple ways, with the most palatable for Browns fans belong a post-June 1 release; that designation would allow the team to rip off the Band-Aid, essentially, and split his brutal $131 million in dead-cap charges (due to previous restructures and added void years) over the 2026 and 2027 seasons.
The next order of business? Shed as much excess salary as possible. That means saying goodbye to beloved veterans like Njoku, Joel Bitonio, and Wyatt Teller in free agency, exploring additional contract restructures, and cutting bait with high-cost veterans who no longer align with the franchise’s future.
On that latter point, the Browns’ next cap casualty is staring Berry can company right in the face.
Browns may cut ties with WR Jerry Jeudy after brutal 2025 season
Cleveland took a calculated risk with Jerry Jeudy during the 2024 offseason, acquiring the former first-round pick of the Denver Broncos for a pair of Day 3 selections before signing him to a three-year, $52 million extension. The move paid off that season, with Jeudy putting together the first 1,000-yard season of his career despite the Browns starting four different quarterbacks due to Watson’s initial ruptured Achilles.
Cleveland also had Amari Cooper and Elijah Moore in its WR room to start that season, and Berry’s decision to bank on Jeudy as the team’s WR1 in 2025 has backfired miserably.
Jeudy’s production has fallen off a cliff, as he’s turned 100 targets into just 48 receptions this season. He’s among the NFL’s leaders with nine dropped passes, per Pro Football Focus, and may be remembered most for chewing out rookie QB Shedeur Sanders during his second career start in Week 13.
Jeudy’s due about $13 million in real cash next season, which for a starting WR is actually a team-friendly deal. But the 26-year-old has been among the most inefficient players in football, currently ranked 103rd out of 133 qualifying wide outs based on PFF’s grading metrics.
NFL teams are afforded two post-June 1 designations per season, which can be used on players released or traded. One of Cleveland's designations should definitely be earmarked for Watson in 2026.
The other? It has Jeudy’s name written all over it.