NFL Trade Rumors
This week we’re chugging along with the next installment in our six-part series analyzing the salary cap situations for the teams with the most work ahead in 2026 to get under the cap. We’re using Over The Cap’s effective cap space projections, which is a neat metric that accounts for how much budget teams should have next year after filling out a full roster and signing their draft class. Per OTC, six teams have deficits in the neighborhood of $25 million or more in effective cap space in 2026.
The NFL mandates all teams stay below the salary cap at all times, so these six teams have to get back in the black by the time the 2026 league year starts in March. That means each squad has some decisions to make, and those implications are what we’re exploring in this series.
Next up, the Cleveland Browns, who handle their contracts in much the same way the Eagles do. Unlike Philadelphia, it hasn’t worked out nearly as well.
As far as getting under the cap, it’s simple for the Browns. Restructuring the contract of QB Deshaun Watson saves $35.7 million in cap space, wiping out Cleveland’s deficit with a little extra spending margin to boot. The Browns have restructured Watson’s deal each season as a way to ease as much as possible the crushing weight of the $230 million guaranteed deal they gave him back in 2022, kicking the can into the future when the salary cap will be higher and paying Watson tens of millions in dead money won’t cripple Cleveland’s ability to field a team.
The Browns could conceivably turn the page and cut Watson with a June 1 cut after restructuring him this spring, but at this point, the word seems to be that the team plans to keep him on the roster. With Dillon Gabriel, Shedeur Sanders and quite possibly a first-round rookie also coming in, that once again gives the Browns a crowded quarterback room to sort through.
As far as other moves, the Browns can and probably will restructure the contract of CB Denzel Ward to create an additional $13.5 million in cap space. All told, that will give them around $20 million to spend, enough that they won’t be required to fill out the roster with solely rookies and minimum contract players — though there will be plenty of those. The Browns have just 35 players under contract in 2026 at the moment, near the bottom of the league.
However, those two moves are the only traditional levers the Browns have available to create space this offseason because of the particular way they structure their contracts, different from most of the other 31 teams.
For most teams, cuts and restructures are the primary two ways to create cap space. NFL contracts can be...
