DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum Cap Space for 2021

I thought the 180 is the floor and meaning that teams had to atleast carry that amount not that this is the lowest max cap can be..cap isn't determined yet, the floor is, which is 5 million more than last year. That means every team needs to carry atleast 180million of cap for this year

1. Sheldon Richardson Cap Savings $11,500,000
2. Odell Becham Jr. Cap Savings $15,750,000
3. Adrian Clayborne Cap Savings 3,000,000


If this happens (Just Speculating) the Browns would have a total of $65,081,094

You are correct.

Richardson's full salary would be a savings - $11.9 million
OBJ, however would only save us $3 million.
A new deal for Richardson wouldn't be a bad idea at all... extend him and reduce the hit while still putting all of this year's money in his pocket.

Also, I doubt Njoku is cut or traded unless a team trading for him works out a new deal for him. I think the more likely scenario is that we give him a new contract that lowers his cap number for this year while putting some guaranteed money in his pocket.

Additionally, one thing folks forget is the way the cap is figured... it only counts the Top 53 players. If a new player comes in, it pushes someone else down. Right now, that someone has a hit of $780k... so, if we sign someone whose hit for 2021 is $5.7 million, our available space only decreases by the difference, or $5 million. Across two or three signings, that is enough room for a whole additional player.

Another player who is a great candidate to have their deal redone is Joel Bitonio. He is a $10 million cap hit; it's all salary and roster bonus. Giving him an extension could EASILY free up $7 million for 2021.

https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/cleveland-browns/cap/

Extending him has multiple benefits for everyone involved. It puts all of this year's money, and perhaps a bit more, in his pocket immediately, while also making him more affordable to the Cap at the same time.

Food for thought on our Defense this offseason:

Sheldon Richardson is going into his dreaded year 31. He is also on the last year of his contract and has already done the 1-year "rent-a-hulk" contracts that guys like Ndamunkong Sue now find themselves doing.

We all know that the 2021 cap will likely not exceed 180 million, so I doubt he would look forward to being released and try to sign a (likely) 8 million dollar 1-year deal (the same contract that Sue is signing year after year since his year 32).

Soooo...he's due 13.67 million in 2021. If released he would likely only be able to make "maybe" 23-24 million over the 2021-2023 league years.

Heck, if we kept him and paid him the 13.67, in 2022 he stills goes to rent-a-hulk status and makes, whet...15-16 million in total for 2022 and 2023?? That's still at best 29 million in 3 years for him.

Why don't we restructure his contract and add the 2 years? It would keep our best veteran DT on the team and save quite a bit of money.

3-years, 30 million (Richardson makes more than he would otherwise either way and gets to stay in one place)

2021 Cap: 9.5 Million (more than he'd likely get in this upcoming FA period and 4+ million less than his current cap hit for 2021) Win, win.
2022 Cap: 9.5 million (still more than he would likely pull in his year 32 as a rent-a-hulk and the 4.17 million saved in 2021 rolls over for Cleveland so this is closer to a 5 million dollar deal for the front office when it's all balanced).
2023 Cap 11 Million: Richardson's year 33. Even if he gets released, it is also the year the cap is expected to expand with the new TV deals to some 248 million. Meaning he would be in a better spot to try to make money on his end and the Browns would be able to laugh off any 2-ish million in dead money. Bonus, if he is still playing solid, 11 or so million would actually be a cheap deal under the new 2023 cap.

Just saying

I would argue that restructuring contracts because we can does not bode well for future FA. They will be less interested in coming to a place where their contracts are messed with "because we can" vs "because we need cap space".

Jmho

Njoku will only be 25 at the start of 2021 season. His blocking skills improved markedly last year. Very athletic. Still lots of upside in his game.

Every team restructures contracts almost every year. We did it last year with Olivier Vernon and Chris Hubbard.

To add, there will be even more contracts restructured this year due to the lower salary cap. It's restructure or expect a large amount of cuts around the league this year.

The front office and Sheldon Richardson both know he’s not getting $13 million on the open market. Instead of cutting him and having to face a tough free agency period I would guess his salary gets down to about $8 million.

I don't understand the infatuation some have with cutting our best TE. Njoku is our best TE and I don't think it's particularly close. Hooper will never be in the greatest TE talks, but I still think Njoku could stud out and be one of the greatest.

I mean I also thought Seth Devalve would shock a lot of people and become great, so it is what it is...

I don't believe this number is correct. Here is why:

In this particular scenario, these three guys' salary doesn't simply add to the available cap space as there is dead cap assigned to each of them if cut.

Richardson- $1,666,668
OBJ- $12,791,000 (massive amount of dead cap)
Clayborne- $500,000

So, I believe the number would be more like $50,600,000-ish. Which is why many people don't think OBJ is going to be cut. It wouldn't make that much sense to do so only to free up $3M and have so much of his 2021 salary on the books. Trading him would really be the only option in regards to eliminating dead cap on his 2021 salary.

Browns cut Adrian Clayborne, per 92.3 The Fan radio.

I find this surprising in that I didn't think $3 million was all that much for a decent DE, but I reckon they feel we can do better with that money.

Yes, but I dismissed it when it said OBJ has zero dead money if cut.