The Cleveland Browns traded Za’Darius Smith, who was due a cap number of $5.7 million in 2025.
However, due to the void year the Browns used to space out his cap hit, they do have to eat all of his bonuses in the contract, taking on $14.2 million in dead money when they dealt him to the Detroit Lions. This is added to the $22.5 million in dead money they are eating for trading wide receiver Amari Cooper to the Buffalo Bills as well.
This must mean the Browns are sitting in a bad spot with their salary cap, right? Not so fast. While on paper they are currently slotted at $8 million in the red, even factoring in the approximately $45 million they will roll over from 2024, there is a great deal of cap flexibility baked into their current contracts to clear plenty of space to play with.
So let’s take a look at their salary cap situation in 2025 after trading Smith.
The Browns only account for 41 of 53 players in 2025, however, so we have to consider that 12 other players and their salaries will be added.
Most of these players will come in the form of rookies on rookie contracts, so filling out the majority of the rest of the roster will be inexpensive. However, we still want to leave room to potentially trade for a veteran or sign a few free agents right?
So some more cap space will have to be cleared.
Whether the fans or national media like it or not, the Browns are going to restructure the contract of Deshaun Watson again in 2025. This does not make him any less cuttable after the season. The full amount is already guaranteed, so if you can push the same amount of money today into a rising cap total, that is what the Browns are going to do.
This will clear about $44 million in cap space for the Browns alone and push them to about $36 million in the positive. Right tackle Jack Conklin is also a cuttable asset, however, if he stays healthy and continues to play well they may want to keep him around another year.
Cornerback Denzel Ward has a deal that would be quite easy to restructure as well that would clear about another $12 million in cap space. If the Browns hang onto Greg Newsome II and do not trade him, they could do the same and clear about another $12 million there. His money is already guaranteed as well, so they wouldn’t be adding any more guaranteed money to make this move either.
Even without cutting Conklin in this case, the Browns would already sit at around $60 million in cap space. Cutting Conklin would push that total closer to $77 million. Again, we have to account for the other 12 players that the Browns will have to add to the roster, so a more realistic number might sit around $55-60 million in cap space next year as a cushion.
Again, the Browns love to roll over around $30 million (more this year), so the number of effective money to use may sit closer to $20-$25 million. Which is still plenty.
So despite eating a ton of dead cap money by trading both Cooper and Smith, the Browns essentially bought a third round pick from the Bills with Cooper’s money and bought a fifth and sixth round pick from the Lions.
Any free agent the Browns will sign as well will have a base minimum salary with the majority of their first year of the deal being paid out in the form of bonuses. This does not count against the cap space. This has been the case with any contract extension or big free agent like Dalvin Tomlinson that has been added.
Despite the dreaded Watson contract, the Browns retain plenty of cap flexibility heading into the future.
