Everything you need to know about the Cleveland Browns salary cap, challenges and solutions

The offseason is in full swing for the Cleveland Browns, which means it’s also cap management time.

Using numbers from OverTheCap.com, we take a look at Cleveland’s current cap situation, some of the challenges that lie ahead and even suggest a few possible solutions.

What is the current cap situation for the Cleveland Browns?

Presently, the Browns have 55 players under contract. With nine entering void years on their contracts, they’ll still count against the cap but effectively won’t be a part of next year’s roster.

Taking in account the Browns Top-51 current contracts, as per league rules, they are projected to be around $15,337,687 over the cap for the 2026 season. However, once you take in account the money you will need to sign your incoming rookie draft class, they are projected to end up effectively around $27,611,145 over next year’s cap. And, that isn’t considering free agency signings.

Who has the biggest cap charge on the Browns roster?

With a cap charge of $80,716,514, Deshaun Watson is not only the largest on Cleveland’s roster, but the largest cap charge for a single season in the history of the NFL. And keeping Watson seems the only viable solution.

He’s owed a $46,000,000 salary for the final year of his record breaking five-year $230,000,000 guaranteed deal signed in 2022, but further restructures to that contract make it virtually impossible to move off from him.

Should he get cut, the Browns would have to sustain a $131 million dead money cap charge, and even designating him a post-June cut wouldn’t be enough, as he’d stay on the books for an $80,716,514 cap charge in 2026 and another $50,446,864 charge waiting for 2027.

And thanks to the void years added after Watson’s original deal, the Browns will still carry him on their books for the 2027 and possibly 2028 seasons, depending on how they want to spread out the remaining chargers from those void years.

Who else will enter void years on their contracts?

The most important names here are Joel Bitonio ($23,504,000), Wyatt Teller ($10,393,000), David Njoku ($24,331,000), Jack Conklin ($5,561,608), Ethan Pocic ($4,368,000), Devin Bush Jr. ($1,440,000), and Shelby Harris ($2,043,000).

The figures in parenthesis are their cap numbers for 2026, even though their respective deals will void in a matter of weeks. Those charges will remain on the books as dead money, once the contracts are void.

The best way to recoup some cap space here is by extending the player. The Browns could keep Bitonio on board -- if he doesn’t retire -- in which case his cap charge would be reduced to around $8,574,000 plus whatever new money comes in with his new contract, while keeping the existing charges for $14,930,000 spread out over the next three years (2027-2029), and also adding whatever new money comes in from the new deal.

A post-June designation is also available, spreading those accelerated hits across the next two seasons, but NFL teams can only use two such designations per year.

This is only kicking the can down the road, but you keep the player on the field and you save those charges for an offseason where you can better absorb the hit, once you’re done with Watson’s tab.

Are there any other significant dead cap charges for the Browns?

The largest dead cap hit currently on the books for next season is Dalvin Tomlinson’s 12,109,000 total. After that, there are a few other players impacting Cleveland’s finances on a smaller scale like Juan Thornhill ($5,668,000) and Ogbonnia Okoronkwo ($4,750,000). In these cases, it’s just time to swallow the pill.

Is there another way for the Browns to create cap space?

The most common way would be to cut players. However, not all cuts will lead to cap savings as we’ve seen with Watson. Players with big cap charges due to bonuses already paid lead to dead money charges that surpass cap relief. Players with big base salaries but little guaranteed money remaining on their contracts, on the other hand, tend to become cap casualties.

Another path is restructuring current contracts. This is achieved mainly in two ways. One is extending a player who’s in the final years of a backloaded contract. The other is simply converting base salary into bonuses so that the charges are spread out in a number of years, including void seasons.

This second option appears somewhat limited for the Browns, as Denzel Ward ($16,900,000) is the only player not named Watson with a base salary upwards of $2,200,000 for the upcoming season, as the Browns are already spreading out a ton of charges into future years.

Right now, tacking on more void years to contracts such as Watson and Ward, and using post-June designations for Bitonio and Njoku would create immediate cap relief, even if it eats up cap space down the road. But with the salary cap growing at such a high rate, teams aren’t usually overly worried about spreading charges into the future.