Browns to benefit from NFL’s record salary cap jump
The NFL dropped a Friday afternoon bombshell that no doubt left its member teams, including the Browns, very happy.
The league announced the salary cap for the upcoming 2024 season would be $255.4 million, a record increase of $30 million from last season’s $224.8 million. That number doesn’t include an additional $74 million per team payment to be used on player benefits, including performance-based incentives and benefits for retired players.
According to the league, the record leap “is the result of the full repayment of all amounts advanced by the clubs and deferred by the players during the COVID pandemic.” Not surprisingly, it’s also due to “an extraordinary increase in media revenue for the 2024 season.”
The salary cap had been projected by most to be in the neighborhood of $242 million. What the additional $13 million or so from projections means for the Browns is significant.
According to OverTheCap.com, the Browns are $6,222,046 million over the cap. However, a handful of common contract maneuvers should turn that deficit into a surplus before the March 13 start of the league year, the first day free agents can officially sign with teams.
The biggest number on the Browns’ cap sheet remains that of quarterback Deshaun Watson, whose cap number is $63,977,000 for the upcoming season. Another restructuring could be part of the plans, although general manager Andrew Berry has hinted in some public comments that’s not necessarily the case.
Running back Nick Chubb, who continues to rehab from a season-ending knee injury last September, is a prime candidate to likely have a deal restructured to lower his current $15,825,000 cap hit. Chubb does not carry any guaranteed money as he enters the final year of his deal, though, which has made him a hot-bottom topic in Northeast Ohio this offseason.
Between Watson and Chubb on the Browns’ cap sheet are three players with plus-$20 million cap hits. Receiver Amari Cooper is at $23,776,000, cornerback Denzel Ward is at $23,498,118 and defensive end Myles Garrett is at $20,168,895.
Berry is scheduled to speak with the media at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday while at the NFL combine in Indianapolis. It’ll be the second time he’s spoken this offseason in a mass setting.