The Cleveland Browns traded Za'Darius Smith, who was set to hit a cap hit of $5.7 million in 2025.
However, due to the invalid year in which the Browns deferred his cap hit, they will have to use up all of his contract bonuses and collect $14.2 million in dead money . Added to that is the $22.5 million in dead money they spent on the transfer of wide receiver Amari Cooper to the Buffalo Bills.
That must mean the Browns are in a bad spot with their salary cap, right? Not so fast. While on paper they are currently $8 million in the red, even taking into account the roughly $45 million they will have extended starting in 2024, there is a lot to create plenty of space to play.
So let’s take a look at their salary cap situation in 2025 after trading Smith.
However, the Browns only have 41 of 53 players in 2025, so we have to expect 12 more players and their salaries to be added.
Most of these players will come in the form of rookies on rookie contracts, so it will be cost-effective to fill the majority of the rest of the roster. However, we still want to leave room to potentially trade for a veteran or sign a few free agents, right?
So more cap space needs to be freed up.
Whether fans or the national media like it or not, the Browns will restructure Deshaun Watson's contract again in 2025. That doesn't make him any less vulnerable after the season. The full amount is already guaranteed. So if you can put the same amount of money into a rising cap today, that's exactly what the Browns will do.
This will free up around $44 million in cap space for the Browns alone, bringing their cap space to around $36 million. Right tackle Jack Conklin is also a valuable asset. However, if he stays healthy and continues to play well, they might want to keep him for another year.
Cornerback Denzel Ward has a deal that would also be fairly easy to restructure and would free up about another $12 million in cap space. If the Browns hold on to Greg Newsome II and don't trade him, they could do the same and pocket another $12 million there. His money is also already guaranteed, so they wouldn't add any more guaranteed money for this move either.
Even without cutting Conklin in this case, the Browns would already have around $60 million in cap space. Cutting Conklin would bring the total closer to $77 million. Again, we have to consider the other 12 players the Browns need to add to the roster. So a more realistic number could be around $55-60 million next year as a buffer.
Again, the Browns love to transfer around $30 million (more this year), so the number of funds to be used effectively could be closer to $20-25 million. That's still enough.
Although the Browns ate up a lot of dead cap money by trading Cooper and Smith, they essentially bought a third-round pick from the Bills and a fifth- and sixth-round pick from the Lions with Cooper's money.
Any free agent the Browns also sign will receive a minimum base salary, with the majority of their first year of contract paid out in bonuses. This does not count toward cap space. This has been the case with every contract extension or major free agent like Dalvin Tomlinson that has been added.
Despite the dreaded Watson contract, the Browns retain plenty of cap flexibility going forward.
