The moves just keep on coming for the Cleveland Browns. The list this offseason has a few big ones and probably has a few more coming. Baker Mayfield is still likely to be traded and there are a variety of free agents that would make sense for Andrew Berry to add as well.
The trade for Deshaun Watson has not been finalized yet despite the Houston Texans announcing it yesterday. One of the major reason is the salary cap. Cleveland must have enough space to take on Watson’s, approximately, $35 million cap hit before making the deal. Once the trade is completed, the team can finalize his new contract and drop his 2022 cap hit to around $10 million.
Trading Case Keenum to the Buffalo Bills freed up around $6 million in cap space and now the team is also restructuring newly acquired WR Amari Cooper’s contract:
The #Browns restructured WR Amari Cooper’s contract, converting most of his $20 million base salary into a signing bonus, adding two void years and saving over $15M on the 2022 salary cap.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) March 19, 2022
While the restructured deal clears cap space for this year, it will be added to future seasons. His cap hit the next two years likely jumps around $4 million with the voided years costing the team almost $8 million in 2027 whether he is on the roster or not.
Cleveland should have enough space once these moves are official to receive Watson in a trade. They will then save about $25 million in cap space when he signs his new deal and almost $19 million if/when Mayfield is traded.