Browns cap space: Over $15 million in dead cap, mostly from 2 releases in 2023

John Johnson III, Jadeveon Clowney account for over $13 million of the dead cap

The conversation around the NFL salary cap, especially for the Cleveland Browns, usually ends up in one of two camps: Overly simplified or overly complicated.

After agreeing to a new deal with RB Nick Chubb, the Browns have over $13 million in salary cap space. If GM Andrew Berry wanted to get really aggressive this season, the team could restructure the contract of QB Deshaun Watson to open up another $33 million.

In general, Berry has acted based on the idea that the NFL salary cap will continue to increase. Given the huge growth this year, it seems that Berry’s predictions are accurate. With those expectations, Cleveland has regularly built in void years, been willing to restructure contracts with Jimmy Haslam’s deep pockets and released players despite dead cap space.

Going into the 2024 season, the Browns currently have over $15 million in dead cap space primarily due to two players released in 2023 with post-June 1st designation: John Johnson III and Jadeveon Clowney. Berry will even owe dead cap to a player he’s since re-signed with kicker Cade York among the eight on the list, according to Over the Cap:

• Johnson – $8.85 million
• Clowney – $4.8 million
• Jakeem Grant – $666,668
• Perrion Winfrey – $406,400
• Cade York – $364,820
• Anthony Schwartz – $224,186
• Tommy Togiai – $169,286
• Drew Forbes – $100,000

Cleveland is far from the only team to have dead cap on the books, the New York Jets, for example, have around $40 million leading to dumping a starting-level defender (John Franklin-Myers) during the NFL draft:

At this point in the offseason, it is unlikely that Berry will use the post-June 1st designation this year which will limit the dead cap heading into next offseason.