Browns salary cap issues are a myth since there is no cap, No Cap

Chicken Little is crying out that the cap will kill the Cleveland Browns next season. The boogeyman salary cap is as real as the monster under your bed. Neither is real. But they scare a lot of people.

The Cleveland Browns upsetting contract with Deshaun Watson is described as the harbinger of salary cap hell. Hailed as the $230-million disaster, Watson has a salary cap hit of roughly $55 million in the 2023 NFL season. That number, detractors say, is the largest for any player in NFL history.

The coming of Salary Cap Apocalypse

Surely, Watson's outrageous cap number will bring about the salary cap apocalypse heralding the coming of the four horsemen with their riders named poverty, pestilence, COVID-19, and Jimmy Haslam. The NFL's only hope against the beast unleashed by Browns general manager Andrew Berry is prayer, penance, and a new contract for Lamar Jackson.

But Lo! A voice cries out. It is a soft voice. It is barely heard much less harkened to. It is a voice that fails to generate clicks and views. It is the voice of Reason. If one should happen to hear the voice of reason, stop, quiet yourself and pay attention. For you are about to hear the truth.

The voice of Reason speaks. It says: the salary cap is a myth. There is no cap. No cap.

Well, there is a cap. But it is so easily manipulated that it is basically non-existent. For example, the New Orleans Saints were roughly $24 million over the current cap. This gave them the third-highest cap overage in the NFL. How did they fix that? By signing quarterback Derek Carr to a $150 million 4-year contract including $100 million in guarantees. Are these the actions of a team worried about the salary cap?

The Saints, those holy men, harken to the voice of Reason. They know the truth. The salary cap is a myth. There is no cap. No cap.

There are so many ways to manipulate the cap that it becomes virtually non-existent. The Browns are already subverting the cap by doing this.

Rolling over the Salary Cap

The salary cap is easily manipulated. Teams can carry over unused cap space from the previous season adding extra cap space to their current cap number. This is known as an adjusted cap number. The Browns currently have the highest adjusted cap number in the NFL.

Cleveland carried over an unused $27 million in cap space into 2023. This raised the league-wide cap number of 224.8 million to 251.7 million for the next season. Instead of having to abide by the league-determined $224.8 million, the Browns can now spend 251.7 because they didn't spend all of their cap money last season.

You may be wondering, what kind of voodoo is this? Teams just cannot add money from last year to this year, it undermines the whole idea of a salary cap. You are correct it does. And yes, they can add money from last year.

The voice of Reason speaks. It says: the salary cap is a myth. There is no cap. No cap.

Let's re-examine the Browns journey through cap hell via the $230-million disaster. Watson's cap hit of roughly 55 million puts the Browns in the 3rd level of cap hell. Their total cap commitment right now is 264.9 per spotrac. Subtracting that from the 224.8 projected league-wide cap puts the Browns over the cap by 40.1 million, which would have been the second-highest overage in the league.

If you have been playing along at home, you will recognize that now is the time for the Browns to sign a player for roughly 40 million dollars a year — just like the Saints did. Because, if the cap were an actual thing, no rational team would put themselves deeper into cap hell.

However, using NFL salary cap voodoo economics, the Browns can add 27 million. This brings the Browns cap overage down to roughly 15 million, which places them six slots below the league average. They have more salary cap space than nine other NFL teams.

If that voodoo weren't enough, teams have other tricks up their sleeve, like this next one, further proving the NFL salary cap is a myth. There is no cap. No cap.

Restructuring Contracts clears cap room

Robbing Peter to pay Paul is a way of life in the NFL. We just saw how the Browns robbed $27 million from the 2022 NFL cap to pay salaries on the 2023 cap. But did you know the NFL teams can restructure contracts to reduce the amount of money charged to the cap?

In a move that would make Bernie Madoff proud, the Browns can legally pay Deshaun Watson's salary in advance as a bonus. Because it was paid as a bonus, the Browns can prorate the bonus over a five-year period against the cap. The difference between the prorated amount of the bonus is subtracted from Watson's cap hit in 2023.

In plain English, the Browns can pay Watson in advance for services rendered but only one-fifth of what they paid him counts against the salary cap. For example, the Browns restructure Watson's contract adding a few years and paying out 50 million of his 2023 salary as a bonus. Now only 10 million of the 50 million counts against the cap. The move would theoretically reduce Watson's roughly 55 million cap hit to 15 million.

This is an obviously over simplified example. The NFL salary cap Ponzi scheme is far more complex than how I have described it. But the principles hold the same. A team can convert salary into a bonus as part of a contract extension, spreading the bonus over a 5-year period against the cap.

Thus, Watson's contract may look like a roughly $ 55-million yearly albatross or a $230-million disaster, but with NFL Ponzi scheme voodoo economics cap rules the contract is starting to look like a bargain.

The Browns may look over the salary cap on paper, but in reality the salary cap is just a number. Teams can subvert the cap a multitude of ways. NFL teams have become so adept at subverting the the cap, one could argue the cap exists de jure only. De facto it does not exist.

It's time to harken to the voice of Reason. Do not let the Chicken Littles of the world convince you Watson's salary cap hit will destroy the NFL. Do not let the boogeyman salary cap monster under your bed convince you that NFL owners are colluding to fix the salary cap after the Browns broke it.

Why would you feel bad for billionaire owners anyway? They just want your money.

No, like the NFL salary cap, Chicken Little and the salary cap boogeyman do not exist. Stories about these mythological entities are told to keep little children following rules and not asking questions. It is time to grow up and put away your childlike fear of Chicken Little, the boogeyman and the NFL salary cap.

The voice of Reason speaks. It says: the salary cap is a myth. There is no cap. No cap.