NFL free agency is a crap shoot where most moves are bad a year or two later
We are a week away from the start of the “legal tampering” phase of NFL free agency. We have made it through the NFL Combine where many players put on a show and very little information about free agency was available this year.
The combination of the huge jump in salary cap space and concerns about how leaked information could impact betting markets means we have very few rumors about what the Cleveland Browns and others might do. We all could be in for some surprises once next week gets underway.
Since we don’t have intel on what GM Andrew Berry will do for the Browns, we can take a look at the current roster to give us some indication. In simplest terms, Cleveland does not pay for depth.
The first depth piece that graces the team’s salary cap sheet is TE Jordan Akins with his $2.3 million cap hit. Akins could be a cut candidate after signing in free agency last year. When we looked at Berry’s spending in free agency since 2020, all of the contracts of any significance were for players that would start or two veteran QBs: Case Keenum and Jacoby Brissett.
Keenum was brought in due to uncertainty around Baker Mayfield in Kevin Stefanski and Berry’s first year running the Browns. Brissett was added due to the uncertainty around Deshaun Watson’s pending suspension.
Otherwise, Cleveland spends money on starters and everything else is close to veteran minimum contracts or players on rookie deals.
Berry and the Browns are not expected to be huge players in free agency this year, except maybe one “splash” move. That doesn’t mean Cleveland won’t spend money but the exploding salary cap could make it more difficult to find veterans willing to play for near the minimum. If Berry doesn’t spend money in free agency, expect it to be for starting-level players and nothing else.
We know that paying for depth goes against a previous version of the Browns guardrails. Given that they have rarely paid for depth since 2020, it is fair to say that they continue with that specific guardrail in their decision-making.
Given Cleveland’s current roster, do you think Berry should spend money to add depth players to the Browns team this offseason?
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