If you were to glance at the Cleveland Browns’ projected salary cap space for 2026, you would see the team sitting at just over $2 million, according to Spotrac.
The NFL salary cap can be manipulated in a number of ways, though, and Browns fans have watched general manager Andrew Berry perform some elite gymnastics in that regard over the years.
Cleveland’s first order of business — after completing their search for a new head coach, of course — will be to re-address the Deshuan Watson contract fiasco. As it stands, the Browns owe Watson $46 million in fully guaranteed cash for the 2026 season, per Spotrac; the QB’s cap hit, however, is an NFL-record $80.7 million due to previous contract restructures.
The Browns could sever ties with Watson this year by designating him a post June-1 cut, but that option is complicated by his whopping $131.1M in dead-cap charges, or cash currently spread out into future void years. If Cleveland pulls that lever, the team would have to eat that $80-plus million cap number for this year, with relief finally coming in 2027.
The most logical outcome is delaying the post-June 1 designation, and restructuring Watson’s deal for the third straight year. The Browns can create $35.7M in cap space for 2026 with Watson's contract alone. It’s definitely not the perfect solution, as the Browns would have to carry sizable cap hits in 2027 and 2028 (with Watson almost certainly off the team), but it’s the one that helps the Browns get compliant, with room to sign free agents at the start of the new league year.
Cleveland is unlikely to be major players in the first wave of 2026 free agency due to their financial situation. But with an offseason overhaul of the starting offensive line all but confirmed, they’ll have the flexibility to make a splash or two before rounding out the roster in April’s draft.
Tyler Linderbaum could become the centerpiece of Cleveland’s O-line rebuild
The Browns were decimated up front by injuries in 2025, with every starter outside of ironman guard Joel Bitono finishing the season on injured reserve. More troubling? Left tackle Dawand Jones is the only player from that group who’s both under 30 years old, and under contract next year.
With Bitonio likely to consider retirement, it’s a very real possibility that Cleveland replaces four of its five starting offensive linemen from Week 1 of 2025; and that’s not to mention potential upgrades to Jones on the left side.
Veteran center Ethan Poicic suffered a torn Achilles tendon in early December, and the Browns don’t exactly have a Plan B on their current roster. They could solve that problem in a big way by poaching Tyler Linderbaum from the rival Baltimore Ravens. The 2025 Pro Bowler is entering his age-26 season, and the Browns were named a top suitor for his services by Bleacher Report’s Kris Knox.
The key number will be the $73 million B/R projects Linderbaum to land on a four-year deal, as arguably the best offensive lineman on this year’s market. That’s a hefty number, but Berry could structure the deal strategically for cap purposes, while signaling a plan to start building through the trenches (and not just on defense).
Berry opted not to draft an offensive lineman in the 2025 NFL Draft, a decision that will only be amplified in 2026. The team’s 2025 rookie class wound up being off-the-charts good, but the Browns would love to have the third-round pick they used on QB Dillon Gabriel back in their pocket; with the very next pick, the New England Patriots selected interior O-lineman Jared Wilson, who’s had a solid season playing left guard for the Patriots but was a center throughout his tenure with the Georgia Bulldogs.
Cleveland’s GM could fix that mistake by going all-in on the best offensive lineman on market in 2026, while weakening a bitter AFC North rival in the process.