Following the money for the Cleveland Browns in 2024
By Greg Newland
With Ken Dorsey now hired as the Cleveland Browns offensive coordinator for the 2024 season, you will see Andrew Berry hit full offseason mode. Even though the team performed well last season, I’ll bet you anything that Berry will once again retool this roster with the full intention of making Deshaun Watson better.
Right now, the Browns look to be hamstrung for the 2024 season as they once again will be without their first-round pick (sent to Houston for Watson). Currently, they sit $19.6 million over the cap with more than $14 million of money going to players who won’t be on the roster including John Johnson and Jadeveon Clowney.
Two things allow me to sleep at night when thinking about this issue. One, the new cap number for the 2024 season has yet to come out. The expectation is that there will be a nice bump from 2023 as revenue for the league continues to be outstanding.
Two, Berry and the Haslems continue to show us that salary cap restraints can always be avoided. This asks your owner to have deep pockets and outspend other teams via roster bonuses and incentives, but so far, the Haslems have yet to bulk at this practice and are willing to spend to find a way to get that Super Bowl Championship.
Even with “unlimited” spending to an extent, this roster is still tied up with money at certain positions, let’s take a deeper dive and see how this can be alleviated moving forward.
Salary Cap Issue Position No. 3 – Quarterback
With a nearly $64 million cap hit for next season, you would think that quarterback would be the No. 1 position on my list. And while the massive contract of Deshaun Watson isn’t even top five in the league on average salary per year, it is still the highest guaranteed contract in the league.
What that means is the Browns have no way out of the contract, but they certainly have ways to spread the deal out. If you remember last year in March, the Browns restructured the deal adding void years and roster bonuses that freed up $22 million.
A similar exercise will be done this offseason which will open a chunk of money for the Cleveland Browns to spend at other positions.