The Cleveland Browns salary cap has been the topic of conversation since the team traded for and signed QB Deshaun Watson to the ridiculous fully guaranteed contract. There were concerns when the deal went down; those have only multiplied with his poor performance on the field.
There is still some public uncertainty about how much insurance relief Cleveland will get from Watson’s contract due to injuries, but GM Andrew Berry has money to work with this year and moving forward despite a huge amount
of dead cap space (following the trade of Myles Garrett and Joel Bitonio’s retirement).
Jared Verse, Garrett’s replacement, will only cost the team a total of $5 million total over the next two seasons, which helps the salary cap greatly.
Now that the Browns, along with the rest of the NFL, have made all the big moves to get to their initial 53-man roster, Over the Cap has adjusted its salary cap figures for each team in the league. According to OTC, Cleveland has $14.7 million in cap space to use in 2026, good for 12th in the NFL and the most among AFC North teams. Their numbers show that six teams are still over the cap and need to restructure some contracts, which we’ve seen happening, at least reportedly, over the last 24 hours
For next offseason, as of now, the Browns have the 11th most cap space with $58 million available, again most in the division, with the Baltimore Ravens at the bottom of the league with a whopping $41 million over the projected salary cap.
Over the Cap projects another big jump in the salary cap next year, up another $26 million from this year’s cap.
While a myriad of things will change by 2028, OTC has Cleveland near the bottom of the league that season with “just” $67 million in cap space. The Buffalo Bills ($16 million) and the San Francisco 49ers (negative $13 million) are at the bottom of the available space three seasons away.
Are you surprised how quickly the Browns rose up the salary cap space list in the NFL?
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