Fare thee well, Josh McCown
February 8, 2017Chris Antonetti didn’t think Indians could get Encarnacion, Logan
February 8, 2017“The Brownz are sooooo cheap!”
I thought it would be fun to give the Browns a taste of the medicine the Cleveland Indians and their ownership have been force-fed over the years by baseball fans in Cleveland. It’s tongue-in-cheek, but that’s what I thought of when I heard that the Browns cut loose expensive veterans Josh McCown and Tramon Williams on Tuesday. Even though the Browns have a ton of cap space, they are working on a budget that’s based on a presumed decrease in gameday revenues for 2017. I don’t have any specific details, but I have to think that season ticket sales and renewals will be at an all-time low this coming season—certainly since 1999. By getting rid of McCown and Tramon Williams, the Browns saved themselves about $12.5 million in 2017. There’s more to the story than that, however.
I wouldn’t congratulate the Browns for doing the right thing, but I think this maneuver is more in line with a standard timeline for cutting veterans loose that shows compassion to a player. The Browns didn’t release Karlos Dansby until March 16, 2016. When the Browns released Donte Whitner they waited until April 2. That was long after the negotiation period had begun for agents to seek deals for their clients. Hue Jackson was left to defend the team for their late release of Whitner.
“We made the decision when it was time for us to make the decision, he stated. “Obviously, that decision wasn’t made before because if it was we would have made that decision earlier. So I get it and I know the feeling in that situation. But trust me, we went through this 1,000 times to get to that conclusion, so it wasn’t like it was just a knee-jerk reaction.”
The Browns’ release of McCown and Williams came in early February more than a month before McCown’s roster bonus of $750,000 and Williams’ $1 million would have been due. It stinks to not get that money, but those kinds of hurdles are put in place to force a team’s hand and give a player a chance to find another gig. The Browns were decisive and gave their players even more visibility of the market, which is the right thing to do.
For the Browns, they take two marginally effective players that can likely be replaced with much cheaper options in the draft. Tramon Williams would have been the second-highest paid corner on the Browns with a cap number of $7.425 million. Briean Boddy-Calhoun is due just over a million for the next two seasons, by comparison. Josh McCown would have made just north of $5 million for 2017 and Cody Kessler is due about $2.7 million for 2017, 2018 and 2019 combined. But this isn’t just about saving money. The Browns have big cash obligations ahead of them. Of course, they have plenty of cap space, but you know the Browns also are going to try and run their business efficiently in terms of cash flow. They’re especially going to run their business efficiently in a season where they are once again not expecting to compete for the Super Bowl. We’re trained to think of NFL teams in terms of salary cap, but inside the walls of the organization, they’re likely just as obsessed with cash flow.
The Browns have already committed considerable cash because of their contract with Jamie Collins. He has a cap number in 2016 of $12.4 million, but in terms of cash outlay this year, he will cost them $16.15 million when they pay him his signing bonus of $5 million, salary of $4.76 million, roster bonus of $6 million, and workout bonus of $400,000. It’s a smart deal for the Browns because after the first two years, if Collins isn’t playing well or isn’t fitting into the Browns’ scheme, they can cut him loose for very little cap penalty—just $2.5 million in dead money if they cut him before the third year of the deal. If he is playing really well, they can reduce his cap number by converting salary to bonus and spreading it out. The point is, however, that in the first year of the deal it’s a big cash outlay for the Browns.
Regardless of how rich Jimmy Haslam is, he feels it when he has to put cash in for annual operations when and if there are shortfalls between cash revenue and cash expenditures. And none of this factors in Terrelle Pryor. By saving $11.3 million on McCown and Williams, the Browns covered a great portion of the Jamie Collins cash in 2017.
So, yes, in many ways “THE BROWNZ ARE CHEAPZ” kind of applies in this scenario inasmuch as they are saving money that they certainly have available under the cap. I would prefer to judge them more on what they do for the rest of the offseason to replace them. What does the quarterback depth chart look like? Did they sign Terrelle Pryor? Did they sign some starters on the offensive line and in the defensive backfield in free agency? The Browns also have two first round picks to pay this season. 2016 first overall pick Jared Goff’s signing bonus was over $18.5 million, and the twelfth player Sheldon Rankins got more than $7.5 million. That means that Jimmy Haslam and the Browns will have another $26 million or more to pay out of their checking account in the first round of the draft alone, if they use their two picks as they sit today.
The Browns have made the right moves so far and they’ve cleared the cash obligations, but that’s the easy part. They will never get any credit for these types of maneuvers. It’s like trying to get credit for winning a pre-season game. It’s a good sign, but if it’s not followed up with regular season wins, it’s not much to talk about.
24 Comments
I’m not mad about this. These are two guys who are probably a year away from retirement. Unlike the previous years where they created huge holes through their cuts, these guys really aren’t contributing a whole lot and should be quite easily replaced.
And if it means they can sign Collins and TP, I’m doubly not mad.
Playing this out…
Cut (or re-negotiate) Joe Haden to pay for Terrelle Pryor
Cut RG3 to pay for Isaiah Crowell
BROWNS MONEY PURGE CONTINUES. NO COMMENT FROM JOE THOMAS.
Related news:
http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20170208/NEWS/170209812
Browns cut season ticket prices for 40% of their packages…
They won’t cut Haden. Aside from the Haslem family, the Haden family is the most loyal suite tenant the Browns have left.
probably part of his contract
$8m is saved if they cut him – is Haden an $8m/year player? ($6.4m other money is dead cap, so it doesn’t even matter)
in no way whatsoever do these moves imply cheapness … they made Collins the highest paid LB in the NFL & they released 2 over-the-hill , over-paid & under-performing veterans … and Dansby & Whitner fell into the latter category as well.
the build-up has just begun … we’ll know more after the FA period & the draft.
if they go out & get someone like Trumaine Johnson , maybe Haden can move to S .
I was about to ask why Haden wasn’t cut but you beat me to it.
This kinda concerns me that they will trade out of the #1 pick now. I never like to look at it as a cash flow business, but that is what it is.
Haden’s contract according to Sprotrac.com. No way the HBT doesn’t attempt to renegotiate. He’s way too expensive…
http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/cleveland-browns/joe-haden-6516/
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8b5efb265a405f4cf4a4db5979eda0313b1ab721479e3c5dcf4de633c77d06ae.jpg
Yes, I agree. He will either renegotiate or be cut. I cannot see them paying him an extra $8m for what he provides despite the fact I love his overall attitude and the way he embraces the city.
hi JAKER … imo , if they stay at #1 & take Garrett , there draft will pretty much be a success … sure , they could trade out of #1 & come out smelling like roses , but considering this is the Browns , trading out of #1 will look pretty foolish & a very Brownsy thing to do.
The high cost/risk of the first few draft picks used to be a concerning factor, but with the current CBA it hardly registers as a concern. If they trade down it won’t be because of money.
While I’m sure it matters what the ledger says at the end of the day on spending, I think it’s off base to suggest that these are driving forces for moves like this. For one thing, gate revenue is a much smaller portion of the team’s total revenue than might be the case for small market baseball teams. The NFL makes a significant majority of their revenue from national TV contracts and sponsorship deals that are split among the teams. Also, the gate revenue itself is shared to the tune of 40%, so while having to charge less for tickets does ultimately make the browns less money, they only lose the marginal decrease on 60% of that money plus 1/32 of the rest. (so they bear 61.25% of their total gate revenue increase/decrease) So the Browns are giving their fans a price break partially out of the pockets of other teams this year. (I bet Jerry Jones is pissed!)
They have plenty of money to spend. There is zero chance that the plan is to not spend money and maximize operating profit at the expense of stripping the value of the Haslam family investment long-term. Only an idiot who doesn’t understand capital investment would mandate that route, and nobody who has any long-term career ambitions would work for that idiot.
So we need to improve at CB. That means adding somebody and subtracting somebody in most cases. Should we lose the non-starting, 33 year old guy who will hit our cap for $7.4 million or one of the younger players that still have the potential to outperform their slice of the cap money? (note – short sighted approaches may cut an interesting youngster, like say, Dion Lewis in the name of having veteran depth to make sure we get that 4th win next year, but what help is that long term?) Let’s start the clock on a young and hopefully improving player now rather than wait until Williams’ contract is up if he’s not going to provide $7.4M in value. You could say they shifted the money from 30-something guys who weren’t going to play that much to a 26 year old who will play nearly every defensive snap. It’s better value, not lower cost. I hope they spend more money on players who we expect have a chance to provide high value despite potentially having to over-pay per the general market to get them here or keep them here. Where you can’t find that, let’s get rid of low-value contracts and get the carousel of young players moving to look for somebody who can be high-value.
I never realized that Brad from Home Improvement grew up to play quarterback for the Cleveland Browns.
Sometimes I start thinking about 27 year old Pro Bowler Mitchell Schwartz’s extremely reasonable 5-year, 33 million dollar contract…with another team. Then I just stare at the wall and fume for a while, then I find a Harvard graduate and give them a swirlie.
PLEASE STOP SAYING THIS THING THAT YOU ARE SAYING.
I think they may try to renegotiate, but I think they would prefer to keep him around. He’s been disappointing since signing the big contract, but he’s going to be 27 and still has a chance to provide a lot of value if he can stay healthy. Even if they are overpriced, I don’t think they want to lose players like that when cap space isn’t the primary concern. (I know they let Schwartz walk, but I’m not sure I think that was intentional and I think they should see it was a mistake now anyway)
I’m miss having that jaw line to set my watch to.
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