On Friday, the Cleveland Browns found out they weren't in as bad of cap space as everyone expected. With the NFL announcing the salary cap increased to $255.4 million, they suddenly found themselves in much better shape. They're still not out of the woods but it feels much more manageable — and they'll also be able to make more moves should they find a way to restructure and extend a few key players.
Deshaun Watson is the first player they need to restructure and doing so could free up more than $33 million. They also need to look at extending some players who are entering the final year of their current contracts.
While that would add more money overall, they can spread out the deals over the next few years, thus giving them even more relief. With that being said, here are three players who need to be extended right away.
3. Amari Cooper, Wide Receiver
Entering the final year of his deal, Amari Cooper is second on the team with a cap hit of $23.77 million. Cooper, who was added in a trade with the Dallas Cowboys in 2022, put his name in the team's record books this season. Not only did he set a new single-game high of 265 yards receiving but he's also the first player in Browns history to record 1,000 yards receiving in back-to-back campaigns.
Cooper has suited up for 32 games in Cleveland and has 150 receptions for 2,410 yards with 14 touchdowns. What's more impressive is the fact that he's put up these numbers with a revolving door at quarterback over the past two years.
There are already those who think Cooper is overpaid and there's this laughable take that he's not a No. 1 wide receiver — despite the fact that he's been a No. 1 wide receiver in each of his nine seasons in the league. The only exception was 2021 when CeeDee Lamb took off for Dallas and Cooper had a "down year" with 865 yards and eight touchdowns on 68 receptions.
Cleveland needs to add more depth to the position along with Cooper and Elijah Moore but they shouldn't even think about letting their top wideout hit the open market in 2025. Extending him now for three years would help the bottom line while also keeping their offense strong.
2. Nick Chubb, Running Back
This offseason has already been full of debate in regards to Nick Chubb's contract. The star running back is entering the final season of a three-year deal signed back in 2021. That contract paid him $36.6 million for those three seasons and now entering 2024, he counts for $15.825 million against the cap.
He's also coming off a serious knee injury suffered in Week 2 against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Chubb ended up with a torn ACL and MCL which required two surgeries to repair. This was also the same knee that was injured in 2015 while he was still at Georgia.
Due to the severity of the injury, there's a belief he might not be ready by Week 1. That's led to some pundits predicting his release, pointing to the $11.8 million Cleveland could save by making such a move. That always seemed unlikely as the more realistic outcome seemed to be a restructuring or extension for Chubb.
Now that the salary cap has increased, it seems more likely Chubb will get a new deal that keeps him around for another couple of years beyond 2024. That way, they can spread the hit out and lower the number overall. The only way this doesn't happen is if they believe the knee injury is too much to overcome but we shouldn't bet against No. 24.
1. Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, Linebacker
One thing that most NFL fans have to have noticed by now is that the more the salary cap goes up, the more players can command. We still hear how bad Deshaun Watson's deal is but that has to do with the fact that it's fully guaranteed.
He's not the first player with a fully guaranteed deal, heck, Kirk Cousins has gotten two of them — that's what leverage does for you when you're a good quarterback and teams are bidding. And despite the hate for Watson and the narrative that only Cleveland wanted him, there were 13 teams in the running for his services.
As far as overall salary, however, Watson is seventh in the NFL in average per season at $46 million per year. The six ahead of him all signed their deals after he did. And there are now rumors Dak Prescott could get $60 million.
All of that is being said to point to this — it's always better to extend players early. The longer a team waits, the more they wind up paying. So if the GM believes a player is part of their future, it's best to rip the Band-Aid off and sign the deal.
Cleveland did that in 2022 with safety Grant Delpit and now, they need to do the same with linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah. Their second-round pick from 2021 played well in each of his first two seasons in the league but then exploded in 2023 with 101 tackles, 3.5 sacks, and two picks. He was disruptive all year with six pass defenses, a forced fumble, and 20 tackles for a loss.
JOK proved he's a vital part of this defense and the Browns need to use the increase in salary cap to lock him up for the next several years. He enters free agency in 2025 and letting him hit the open market will shoot his value through the roof.