Browns may have Tanked, but Approach to Rollover Cap has been Consistent

The NFL ruled that the accusations made by former head coach Hue Jackson as it relates to tanking had no merit, which is great news for the Cleveland Browns. A team with nothing decided to lean into it, going through hard reboot to put themselves in the position they are now six years later. It's pretty clear what they were doing at the time, and perhaps should be allowed to do, but they didn't violate the letter of the law as its currently written. Or did they?

Gary Gramling and Connor Orr of TheMMQB looked into the accusations made by Jackson through discussions they had with his lawyer, Joe Stafford, who provided documents that offered plenty of insight. The common theme is that while there is no agreement to pay Jackson for losing, there are bonuses for cap rollover and the number of draft selections the team is able to make.

That would suggest that Jackson benefits from doing worse, though one could argue it's essentially being paid extra for the pain and suffering of enduring that much losing.

One area that warrants some pushback is the idea that because the Browns incentivized their executives to rollover a significant amount of cap room into the next season, that is tanking. The Browns maximized rollover cap under former Executive Vice President Sashi Brown and has returned to the practice under his top lieutenant, Andrew Berry, since taking over as general manager. The deviation was under John Dorsey. His approach to both cash and cap room was one the Browns would prefer to forget.

The Browns currently have around $24 million in cap space, about 11 percent of their adjusted cap space. They will get $9.5 million more in June when Austin Hooper's move becomes official. And if they can convince a team to take it, they free up $18.8 million more in trading quarterback Baker Mayfield. Even if they ultimately agree to deals with Jadeveon Clowney and someone like Akiem Hicks, addressing the two biggest holes on the team, they will still have a ton of money available to rollover into 2023.

That figure could be as much as $35 million, about 16 percent of their adjusted cap. This is on a team with an extremely talented roster that just acquired quarterback Deshaun Watson and wide receiver Amari Cooper.

Going back to 2016, this was a plan designed to enable the Browns to have the highest adjusted cap possible, maximizing their flexibility while contending thereby extending their window to compete. The Browns could have one of the best teams in the league in 2023 and 2024 and the largest amount of cap flexibility, putting them in position to potentially win a Super Bowl. If it's not tanking in 2022, it's not tanking in 2016 and 2017. It's simply prudent planning under the rules of the salary cap. The team's record shouldn't dictate how they operate in that capacity.

The front office wanted to hire Sean McDermott, but were overruled by ownership, who insisted on hiring Hue Jackson. Their approach, especially when it came to rollover cap wasn't going to change under McDermott. There's plenty worth considering from what Gramling and Orr researched as well as Sports Illustrated Weekly discussing, including some suspicious activity and unflattering details, but the rollover cap aspect of this doesn't hold water.