When Cleveland Browns GM Andrew Berry talks about the NFL’s salary cap, it sounds much different than how fans and media have covered it for decades. While the general thought has been that the salary cap is finite, Berry has talked about the flexibility of the cap as just an accounting tool.
The continued hike in the salary cap is also helpful.
As predicted earlier in the offseason, Berry has started to create even more cap space around the start of the league year by restructuring QB Deshaun Watson’s
contract and making an adjustment to CB Denzel Ward’s. A lingering question had been around insurance placed on Watson’s contract and what it could mean for both the cap and cash options for Cleveland.
News came today that the Browns have added an additional $17.8 million to the salary cap as a part of “annual adjustments.” Some of that adjustment is related to incentives that counted against the cap as “expected to be reached” but were not actually reached. The majority of $17.8 million is most likely from the insurance on Watson’s contract.
Despite a league-wide salary cap of just over $301 million, both Over the Cap and Spotrac have Cleveland with a total cap of almost $340 million due to rollover and this annual adjustment. Unfortunately, due to dead cap hits for Joel Bitonio, Jack Conklin, and David Njoku, based on this year’s decisions, and Dalvin Tomlinson, Juan Thornhill, and Ogbonnia Okoronkwo for last year’s decisions, the Browns are also paying around $80 million for players not on the roster.
The salary cap is an accounting tool and one that is quite complicated. As always, we encourage everyone to check out Jack Duffin’s work at The OBR, including this piece about how much cash Berry has to spend this offseason.
Do the details of the salary cap interest you or has it become too complicated?
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