The Cleveland Browns Offense is Looking Expensive
Mandatory credit: Jeff Lange USA Today
With the Super Bowl officially in the rearview, the off-season is now in full effect and it will be a big one for the Cleveland Browns. The miracle run that Joe Flacco and this team had was a blast, but now it’s back to the drawing board to make sure that this team can stay competitive moving forward.
The team has already made some drastic changes as they fired a good portion of their offensive staff and brought in a new offensive coordinator, Ken Dorsey, to help the Browns push the ball down the field next season with Deshaun Watson.
2024 will be year three of Watson (which feels hard to believe), but we’ve still only seen a very small sample size because of the suspension and injuries. He’s 8-4 as a starter for the Browns so far which is as good as anyone’s ever been, but some are still wanting to call this trade a loss.
I’m not at that point yet, but you can see the sense of urgency picking up. I think the Haslem’s are more than happy with Andrew Berry and his staff, but he can still feel the seat getting warm if Watson doesn’t at least get this team to the playoffs in 2024.
I’m all for the retooling and the more I sit on the hiring of Dorsey, the more I think it will be a benefit to Watson. But as we inch closer to the season, can Berry really upgrade this offense with all the money that has already been spent on it?
The good news is the answer is yes. Here are a few simple moves to continue to upgrade this offensive depth chart.
Watson Restructure:
Currently, Watson is set to have a cap hit of nearly $64 million in the 2024 season. Not only will that be the largest hit in the NFL, but it’s also nearly 25 percent of the Browns total cap for the season. I know many are saying this will hold the Browns back in 2024 on adding talent, but that shouldn’t be the case.
Remember just a year ago in March, Berry and Watson restructured the contract which added void years, roster bonuses, and cut the cap hit by $22 million. With that money last year Berry was able to bring in guys like Za’Darius Smith, Dalvin Tomlinson, and Maurice Hurst who all played a major role on this defense.
Cooper Extension:
Wide receiver will be another interesting area to watch for the Browns. With all the changes on offense, I think they will certainly be looking to add firepower, but David Njoku is the only real talent that will sure be on the roster.
Elijah Moore, David Bell, and Cedric Tillman will all be returning and on rookie deals, but the current cap hit of $23.8 million for Amari Cooper seems like a tough pill to swallow. Cooper is the only elite wide receiver on the current roster, so they really can’t afford to not keep him around.
The Browns are lacking draft picks because of the Watson trade and free agency is a brutal place to pick up talent at wide receiver. Far too often I’ve seen teams overpay at the position and get little to no production in return.
Look for Berry to free up some money by extending Cooper, drawing out the money a little longer with void years, and turning a chunk of his salary into a roster bonus. This is once again kicking the can down the road, but as long as Haslem is willing to pay a little extra each year to stay competitive, it is a sustainable model.
Even with keeping Cooper, I think the Browns will turn to free agency for another option at wide receiver. It likely won’t be a splashy name like Mike Evans, but a second-tier player who is ready to have a nice payday, but puts a certain amount of value on playing for a contender.
The biggest name to watch here is a guy like Tee Higgins who could likely get $12 million per year with a few different teams but could be motivated at $8-10 per year to come to the Browns where they look to be serious contenders like his past team, the Bengals.
Offensive Line Concerns:
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the nearly $54 million the Browns have in cap hit for the five offensive line starters is crazy. If this unit was one of the tops in the league I would have no issues, but there are serious problems with pass protection and run blocking with this group.
This is going to be a difficult decision for Berry as guys like Joel Bitonio and Wyatt Teller are fan favorites, but without a restructure and taking a pay cut, I don’t see how you can justify keeping them both around.
With so much money already spent at the position you can’t justify spending in free agency, and you can’t promise yourself a starter by trying to correct the position in the draft. I certainly expect something to happen here with the current roster pieces, and I would not be shocked at all to see Berry take a guard or center in the early rounds of the draft with anticipation of them taking over as a starter as early as 2025.
The bottom line, the Cleveland Browns may not look the best on paper right now financially, but there are plenty of moves to be made to keep this unit competitive for the years to come. One thing Berry must be careful of, spending too much money on one side of the ball. Right now the offense holds a majority of the “bad” contracts, but soon enough the Myles Garrett and Denzel Ward deals will hit the back half and not be so team-friendly.
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