As you already know by now, the Cleveland Browns are in one of the worst cap space situations amongst all 32 NFL teams headed into the 2025 offseason. They're 31st out of those teams in least amount of cap space available.
That's a big blow to their need to sign a new quarterback, multiple positional players, and to potentially trade Myles Garrett. Because of the cap hit the Browns would take by trading him prior to the draft, don't expect him to be moved - if at all - prior to June 1. That's all thanks to their extreme lack of any cap space.
However, headed into the offseason, Cleveland will have some relief with the NFL announcing a change to team salary cap limits headed into 2025. The change alleviates the Browns' situation a smidge.
New per-team salary cap & updated Browns draft picks ahead of 2025
According to reporting from ESPN's Dan Graziano, the NFL is set to increase the per-team salary cap from $255.4 million in 2024 to anywhere between $277.5 million and $281.5 million. That's a significant leap, and it clears some space for Cleveland on their books.
The Browns, prior to this change, were in the red by $31 million according to Over The Cap. Now, Cleveland's sitting at $24 million over the cap, which is a pretty big change while still keeping them with the second-worst cap space in the league. This means that the number of cuts the team planned on making to save cap space could potentially decrease.
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Players like Wyatt Teller or Jack Conklin made sense as unfortunate cap casualties, but now maybe just one of them would need to be cut this offseason. And, if the Browns do trade Garrett after June 1 now, they'll see $4 million in cap savings - but, would still have $14 million of dead money on their books.
In the upcoming 2025 NFL draft, the Browns will have four picks in the first three rounds: the second overall pick, the 33rd, the 67th, and the 94th. They'll also have three compensatory late draft picks: the 216th, 217th, and 257th. Surely, they can land a quarterback replacement somewhere in that range.
Jokes aside, here is a full list of those picks as of February 19:
Round 1, Pick 2
Round 2, Pick 33
Round 3, Pick 67
Round 3, Pick 94 (via BUF)
Round 4, Pick 103
Round 5, Pick 165 (via DET)
Round 6, Pick 181
Round 6, Pick 194 (via MIA)
Round 6, Pick 202 (via MIN)
Round 6, Pick 216
Round 6, Pick 217
Round 7, Pick 257
With such a top heavy pool of picks to work with headed into the late April draft, and now with an "increased" amount of cap space to work with, Cleveland is set to be very busy evaluating which positional needs require attention during free agency and on the trade market.