Notable Contributors Headline Browns 2024 Free Agent List
Building a playoff contender in the NFL is no easy feat. Keeping a team a consistent contender is even more difficult.
After an 11-6 season and a playoff appearance by the Browns, executive VP of football operations Andrew Berry's has his work cut out for him heading into the upcoming offseason. In 2023, Berry was the architect behind Cleveland's top ranked defense, turning over the roster from the previous season to bolster the defensive line and add valuable veteran leadership.
He also added key pieces on the offensive side of the ball, trading for wide receiver Elijah Moore and drafting contributors like fellow wideout Cedric Tillman and tackle Dawand Jones. During the season Berry was really put to the test as injuries continually threatened to jeopardize the campaign and but he continued to add players, like veteran QB Joe Flacco, who were a perfect fit for the Browns locker room.
Roster turnover is always an inevitability this time of year. The curse of being a good team makes it even harder for to keep a team together. The NFL's estimated salary cap for next season is slated to be $242.5 million and the Browns have over $30 million in rollover cap space that gets applied on top of that for the upcoming season. With the rule of 51 – which is an offseason accounting measure that only counts each team's top 51 contracts against the cap until the first week of the regular season – and a handful of dead money figures to account for, the Browns are currently slated to be $13 million over their allotted cap space.
One of the main orders of business for Berry and his staff will be reworking a number of top paid player contracts to create addition cap space for next year, including a massive $63 million figure for quarterback Deshaun Watson. The Browns brass will also have to assess whether or not there are any players they'll need to part ways with as cap casualties to help ease their salary cap situation.
In the meantime, the Browns have a pretty lengthy list of unrestricted free agents to be that Berry and co will have to sift through and decide who they'd like to attempt to re-sign. The list features a number of notable contributors from this past season:
- LB Matthew Adams
- TE Harrison Bryant
- P Corey Bojorquez
- OL Geron Christian
- QB Jeff Driskel
- OL Michael Dunn
- DT Jordan Elliott
- QB Joe Flacco
- CB Mike Ford
- WR Marquise Goodwin
- WR Jakeem Grant
- S Duron Harmon
- OL Nick Harris
- DT Shelby Harris
- RB Kareem Hunt
- DT Maurice Hurst
- DL Sam Kamara (Exclusive Rights Free Agent)
- LB Jordan Kunaszyk
- S Rodney McLeod
- OL Ty Nsekhe
- LB Jacob Phillips
- WR James Proche
- DE Za’Darius Smith
- LB Sione Takitaki
- QB P.J. Walker
- LB Anthony Walker Jr.
Sorting through that exhaustive list will be a key task in the months ahead Don't count on seeing all those names back on the roster this fall.
