How did the Browns get Teven Jenkins on such a cheap contract?

The contract for Jenkins raised quite a few eyebrows.

It’s not often that contract projections are so far off-the-mark for players hitting free agency in the NFL, but that’s what happened when the Cleveland Browns signed OL Teven Jenkins last week.

Pro Football Focus estimated that he could get $13 million per year, but instead, he settled for a 1-year, $3.05 million deal with the Browns. Jenkins was a second-round pick at No. 39 overall in 2021 by the Chicago Bears. When he’s played, he’s been really good, and was one of the better-performing guards in the league last year. With Joel Bitonio having contemplated retirement this past offseason and Wyatt Teller occasionally having the injury bug, it’s a great depth addition for Cleveland. However, the fact that Jenkins’ deal was so low, even for the standards of a quality backup, means that there has to be some league-wide concerns about his health.

Still, in the past three years, he’s started 11, 11, and 14 games. Yes, it’s not ideal that he missed action and had a variety of injuries, but it seems like a worthwhile gamble for Andrew Berry and company, and reminds me to a degree of how Berry likes to take fliers on guys with injury track records — I’m thinking about the Maurice Hurst’s and Nyheim Hines of the world. Some of those pan out, while others don’t.

Let’s look at how Jenkins’ deal is structured:

• The deal was reported as being 1-year for $3.05 million. For salary cap purposes, though, it totals $3.49 million. How do we get there?
• The base salary is $1.17 million, which is fully guaranteed. His signing bonus is $1.5 million, which is spread out over five years (his contract will void at the start of the 2026 season, which would then incur a $1.2 million dead cap hit next year). Only $300,000 counts against the cap for his signing bonus in 2025.
• Jenkins has a $ 20,000-per-game roster bonus. Since he played 14 games last year, only $280,000 of that roster bonus counts against the cap now. If he plays every game, it could be worth $340,000.
• There is a workout bonus of $40,000, presumably for offseason programs.
• The last piece is playing time incentives. The tiers are $500,000 if he plays 50% of the snaps, $1 million for 70%, and $1.5 million for 80%. Last year, he played in 65% of the snaps, which means his likely to be earned incentive is $500,000, which counts toward the cap.
• The $3.05 reports don’t include the $500,000 incentive, but it includes the full $340,000 roster bonus ($1.17 million + $1.5 million + $340,000 + 40,000 = $3.05 million).