LeBron James, Point God: While We’re Waiting
October 25, 2017
The Browns’ Sweet Ride to London
October 25, 2017Despite the overwhelming amount of salary cap space the Browns have, you can’t call Jimmy Haslam cheap. I’ve been relentless in my criticism of cutting Joe Haden “because I don’t care about Jimmy Haslam’s money,” but I need to be fair. I understand the difference between the NFL’s accounting principles with the salary cap and what it costs for the Browns to run their team from a cash flow perspective in a given year. In 2017 Jimmy Haslam wrote a huge amount of checks for a ridiculous amount of money.
“But I thought the Browns have over $63 million in free cap space!” That’s true. The Browns’ largest cap hits in 2017 are Joel Bitonio at $12.2 million followed closely by Jamie Collins at $12.1 million. The way the salary cap works, when you pay a signing bonus, you get to divide that cost out over the life of a contract. Myles Garrett’s cap number in 2017 is just over $5.5 million with a base salary of $465,000 and signing bonus charge of over $5 million. Garrett’s rookie deal included a $20.7 million signing bonus that all had to be paid in 2017. So for Jimmy Haslam’s accounting purposes, in real life, Haslam and the Browns will scratch checks (or direct deposit) $20,273,004 to Myles Garrett this year alone so that his cap number never actually rises to $10 million in the life of his four-year rookie deal. Kevin Zeitler costs $8.4 million on the cap in 2017, but Haslam had to write checks for $18 million in 2017.
At the end of the accounting exercise, the Cleveland Browns have a salary cap amount of $96,944,437 on active players. Jimmy Haslam’s bank account is less $143,321,007 for those active players. Due to signing bonuses on free agents and rookies, Haslam spent $46 million more in cash than what’s reflected on the cap. When you consider that, you begin to have an understanding why the Browns might have played hardball with Joe Haden over his contract. You begin to understand why he might be searching for executive-level talent to insert into his front office. The financial wizardry of this Browns front office is really incredible, and it should be because that’s Sashi Brown’s background. The Browns paid Joel Bitonio $8.5 million on a roster bonus, taking all the cap hit in a single year, probably to make it easier to cut him if his injury wouldn’t have allowed him to play in the long run.
Let’s talk about “Dead Cash” for a second, though. Jimmy Haslam is paying nearly $20 million for guys who aren’t even on the team. By cutting Joe Haden, Jimmy Haslam saved money, but it will still cost him $3.25 million in cash for this season. Of course, there’s also Brock Osweiler who is costing Haslam more than $15 million to not play for the Browns this season. In total, when you consider the non-roster cash outlay on players, Haslam’s bill comes out to more than $180 million in 2017. So, you know he felt like this plan was in service of something. Otherwise, there’s no way he would agree to it all.1
It also means that when the Browns do find that quarterback who is worthy of Joe Flacco money (I kid!) they’ll have plenty of cap space to do it. The issue, of course, is if the guys who’re building this team will be the ones who will be allowed to make the pick. For all the smart contractual maneuvering, the Browns are still struggling on the football field to be competitive. And I’m sure it’s much to Jimmy Haslam’s chagrin seeing as it cost him over $143 million in cash this season to watch this roster of players struggle to find a W.
(All data used in this post was compiled from spotrac)
| CAP ACCOUNTING | CASH ACCOUNTING | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Pos | Base Salary | Signing Bonus | Roster Bonus | Workout Bonus | 2017 Cap Hit | 2017 Cash Hit | The Diff |
| Myles Garrett | DE | 465,000 | 5,064,501 | – | – | 5,529,501 | 20,723,004 | 15,193,503 |
| Kevin Zeitler | G | 6,000,000 | 2,400,000 | – | – | 8,400,000 | 18,000,000 | 9,600,000 |
| Kenny Britt | WR | 4,000,000 | 1,625,000 | – | – | 5,625,000 | 10,500,000 | 4,875,000 |
| Christian Kirksey | ILB | 3,797,000 | 1,365,625 | – | – | 5,162,625 | 9,797,000 | 4,634,375 |
| Jabrill Peppers | S | 465,000 | 1,415,361 | – | – | 1,880,361 | 6,126,446 | 4,246,085 |
| David Njoku | TE | 465,000 | 1,266,835 | – | – | 1,731,835 | 5,532,342 | 3,800,507 |
| Jamie Collins | OLB | 4,750,000 | 1,250,000 | 6,000,000 | 100,000 | 12,100,000 | 15,850,000 | 3,750,000 |
| J.C. Tretter | C | 2,000,000 | 1,500,000 | 109,375 | – | 3,609,375 | 6,609,375 | 3,000,000 |
| DeShone Kizer | QB | 465,000 | 434,712 | – | – | 899,712 | 2,203,848 | 1,304,136 |
| Larry Ogunjobi | DT | 465,000 | 245,391 | – | – | 710,391 | 1,446,564 | 736,173 |
| Jason McCourty | CB | 1,500,000 | 625,000 | 218,750 | – | 2,343,750 | 2,968,750 | 625,000 |
| Caleb Brantley | DT | 465,000 | 44,993 | – | – | 509,993 | 644,975 | 134,982 |
| Zane Gonzalez | K | 465,000 | 22,289 | – | – | 487,289 | 554,156 | 66,867 |
| Matt Dayes | RB | 465,000 | 16,067 | – | – | 481,067 | 529,270 | 48,203 |
| Britton Colquitt | P | 1,650,000 | – | 1,500,000 | – | 3,150,000 | 3,150,000 | – |
| Isaiah Crowell | RB | 2,746,000 | – | – | – | 2,746,000 | 2,746,000 | – |
| Marcus Martin | G | 1,777,000 | – | – | 20,000 | 1,797,000 | 1,797,000 | – |
| Charley Hughlett | LS | 615,000 | – | 850,000 | – | 1,465,000 | 1,465,000 | – |
| Sammie Coates | WR | 615,000 | – | – | – | 615,000 | 615,000 | – |
| T.Y. McGill | DT | 615,000 | – | – | – | 615,000 | 615,000 | – |
| Jamie Meder | DE | 615,000 | – | – | – | 615,000 | 615,000 | – |
| Briean Boddy-Calhoun | CB | 540,000 | – | – | – | 540,000 | 540,000 | – |
| Kevin Hogan | QB | 540,000 | – | – | – | 540,000 | 540,000 | – |
| Mike Jordan | CB | 540,000 | – | – | – | 540,000 | 540,000 | – |
| Austin Reiter | C | 540,000 | – | – | – | 540,000 | 540,000 | – |
| Dan Vitale | FB | 540,000 | – | – | – | 540,000 | 540,000 | – |
| Rashard Higgins | WR | 508,224 | – | – | – | 508,224 | 508,224 | – |
| Zach Banner | T | 465,000 | – | – | – | 465,000 | 465,000 | – |
| B.J. Bello | ILB | 465,000 | – | – | – | 465,000 | 465,000 | – |
| James Burgess | ILB | 465,000 | – | – | – | 465,000 | 465,000 | – |
| Trevon Coley | DT | 465,000 | – | – | – | 465,000 | 465,000 | – |
| Kai Nacua | S | 465,000 | – | – | – | 465,000 | 465,000 | – |
| Kasen Williams | WR | 465,000 | – | – | – | 465,000 | 465,000 | – |
| Deon King | OLB | 412,945 | – | – | – | 412,945 | 412,945 | – |
| Bryce Treggs | WR | 412,941 | – | – | – | 412,941 | 412,941 | – |
| Reggie Porter | CB | 410,295 | – | – | – | 410,295 | 410,295 | – |
| Randall Telfer | TE | 540,000 | 29,384 | – | – | 569,384 | 540,000 | (29,384) |
| Spencer Drango | G | 540,000 | 51,912 | – | – | 591,912 | 540,000 | (51,912) |
| Seth Devalve | TE | 540,000 | 95,848 | – | – | 635,848 | 540,000 | (95,848) |
| Derrick Kindred | S | 540,000 | 124,839 | – | – | 664,839 | 540,000 | (124,839) |
| Ibraheim Campbell | SS | 615,000 | 128,002 | – | – | 743,002 | 615,000 | (128,002) |
| Ricardo Louis | WR | 540,000 | 141,962 | – | – | 681,962 | 540,000 | (141,962) |
| Joe Schobert | OLB | 540,000 | 158,489 | – | – | 698,489 | 540,000 | (158,489) |
| Cody Kessler | QB | 604,049 | 166,197 | – | – | 770,246 | 604,049 | (166,197) |
| Duke Johnson | RB | 642,500 | 177,523 | – | 10,000 | 830,023 | 652,500 | (177,523) |
| Shon Coleman | T | 568,000 | 196,884 | – | 20,000 | 784,884 | 588,000 | (196,884) |
| Carl Nassib | DE | 618,110 | 222,438 | – | – | 840,548 | 618,110 | (222,438) |
| Nate Orchard | OLB | 841,028 | 377,055 | – | – | 1,218,083 | 841,028 | (377,055) |
| Joel Bitonio | G | 3,164,777 | 573,036 | 8,500,000 | – | 12,237,813 | 11,664,777 | (573,036) |
| Jamar Taylor | CB | 2,500,000 | 750,000 | – | 25,000 | 3,275,000 | 2,525,000 | (750,000) |
| Emmanuel Ogbah | DE | 750,438 | 751,753 | – | – | 1,502,191 | 750,438 | (751,753) |
| Danny Shelton | DT | 1,498,970 | 1,692,939 | – | – | 3,191,909 | 1,498,970 | (1,692,939) |
| TOTALS | 56,677,277 | 22,914,035 | 17,178,125 | 175,000 | 96,944,437 | 143,321,007 | 46,376,570 |
- The Browns are spending the fourth most amount of cash in 2017 of any NFL franchise, while holding the most cap room. [↩]
71 Comments
One more note on the discrepancy between the cap space and cash spent is that the “rollover” cap allows the Browns to continue carrying forward unused cap space into subsequent years. The Browns “adjusted cap” is $216m, meaning even with the $63m in cap space, their 2017 cap number of $153 is only $14m under the NFL standard cap of $167m.
excellent , CRAIG !! … but not many around here will accept Sashi’s “financial wizardry” … they want results & improvement RIGHT NOW !! there will be no looking ahead !!
i happen to think the HBT is onto cutting-edge techniques … it is just going to take some time.
and for those who want to run the HBT out-of-town , here’s a little something to ponder :
Browns 1st round picks since 2011 :
pre-HBT :
2011 – P.Taylor
2012 – T.Richardson , Weeden
2013 – Mingo
2014 – Gilbert , Manziel
2015 – Shelton , Erving
HBT :
2016 – C.Coleman
2017 – Garrett , Peppers , Njoku
is this not improvement over what we’ve had here ?? and they have worked 2 years on the cap space & setting-up this year’s draft & you wanna run them outta here ?? I don’t get it.
Let’s not confuse the financial wizardry with positive NFL personnel results. They have shown zero ability to build a football team, even if they’re writing efficient contracts.
They have to draft a good quarterback this year. They’ve punted on it two years in a row and now they’ve put all the pressure on to get one this year because they can’t move forward without a good player at that position.
So he’s not afraid to spend money, and yet all we get year after year after year is this hot mess?
Money isn’t the problem in Berea, incompetence is. And incompetence is rampant.
Nope, just a bad one.
no doubt , is it that far out of the realm of possibility to believe that they were actually looking ahead to this year to address QB ? with the cap space they have & the way they are set-up nicely in this next draft , they can make a splash at QB , WR & RB .
they can either go after Cousins , make a trade or address QB in the draft.
i’m with you … Sashi should be good with the numbers , that’s his gig. And I would not say
“zero ability” … if I’m starting a football team , i’m starting up-front in the trenches … they did a better than good job with the O-line & D-line … they have also done an excellent job building draft capital as well … so yes , they just need to score on their high draft picks.
Why would Cousins come to the Browns? SF has a coordinator he likes as HC and just as much money to shove his way.
What QB are we trading for?
CRAIG is probably saying : “why , oh why did I reply to TB2 ?? … I’ll never do that again “.
it’s all good … I will be here to remind everyone that the HBT will be here next year & i hope for many years to come.
so , you’re saying there’s no chance Cousins would come to Cleveland ? McCarron & Bridgewater will be FA’s next year … I’ll bet the Giants might be blowing the whole thing up & you could trade for Eli … Rivers ? Luck ? Weeden ?
Sure, we can get McCarron or Weeden. Not sure how that changes things.
True starting QBs are often talked about changing teams, but rarely do so. Rivers has been rumored to be leaving Chargers his whole career. If one does leave, look at all the QB-needy teams who are in better situations than Browns (read: all of them). If the Browns want out of this mess, then they need to plan on drafting/developing.
So, with the first pick, do you draft Darnold or Saquon?
We’ll see neither at 15-ish.
they are sitting well enough to bring in a veteran & draft a QB that won’t have to start right away. you saw what’s was available at QB in FA the last few years … nothing. that will change a little bit next year.
Saquon … he is more of a sure thing , if there is such a thing. aren’t we sitting good enough , or if they really wanted to be aggressive , to get them BOTH ?
After spend a hundred mil to get the Feds off your back, $170m on some football players is probably a welcome respite.
I’d say the chance on Cousins landing here is somewhere between zero and -1.
Or buying with draft picks. Sure they’ll get swindled, but there really is no market price for a potential FQB.
No way the HBT is going to part with the amount of precious cap space Cousins will want.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a0021b619dab909f54542185a38e4a9b76a9f4c11208ed4493625d4ea34f3aa6.png
He’s also not a good owner.
I do think they would burn the cap on a legit QB. Now trading draft picks to get one is a completely different story.
The Plan…
https://50shadesabuse.files.wordpress.com/2017/10/grey41.gif?w=660
TRADE ALL TEH PICKZ 4 GRABAPABLO!
I find it pretty remarkable after all the Grabapolo hype that the Colts landed Brissett for a 3rd round pick. Was Sashi’s phone broke that day?
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c1710545555ffce4abb650a916b1f082becc3b4f9f69384d320211867b61d85c.gif
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/13a16ecf62aa3e755bac358141caea141dcb66b7daf0e4f127bb866b3823b3f4.gif
that’s okay , bring it on , boys … just don’t take it personally … https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c272e5e5de05cca47d654c0ec2b909983ea555f34969ca30a799ac1fba3a915f.jpg
There is no Darnold.
Is Brissett good? It’s an interesting question. He was against us and SF (the two winless NFL teams). But he also has has 4-of-6 starts w/ YPA under 5.5 (Brady Quinn territory). He might be good or might be developing into good. But, it is also not a certainty.
I’d take him over Kessler today though & I’d have given up a 3rd, sure.
So, focus soley on Saquon at #1, and WRs with later picks?
Although, I really want Fitzpatrick.
Wait. Wait wait wait. Wait.
Are we still talking *Brandon* Weeden? Is there another Weeden in the league of whom I’m unaware? Because that Weeden is trash. Like trashy-trash. Like worse than our current QBs by a lot trash.
It’s not him, right?
It starts to become a circular argument, but if Kizer is worth a late 2nd round, why wouldn’t Brissett be after a year in the Pats system? He sure looked better to me than any Browns QB I’ve seen in the last few years last Monday night.
And tell Tabor to suck it up, we are carrying 4 QB’s on the roster until we find someone competent.
I’d just give Tabor a pink slip. What were we talking about again?
I did not bring him up. I only noted he wouldn’t help us.
Never threaten the Teflon Goldfish.
Ever.
I’m really, really OK w/ taking Lamar.
Every time I think of Lamar, images of kindling flood my brain.
Despite the fact that he has actually played better than our current starting, non-starting, starting QB, I completely agree he is trash and of no useful help.
I have flashbacks of Vick deciding play by play if he is going to destroy a stout Panthers defense with his arm or his legs.
Hi ERIC … it was a joke & to see if MG was paying attention.
VIntage, top-shelf, ELITE Vick is still the best QB the NFL has seen, however fleeting.
Ohioan right there.
He’s definitely not cheap. He’s paying, what, 5 different head coaches right now?
The opposing team being the kindling, sure because he’ll light them up.
Might as well just leave this here…
http://www.cleveland.com/browns/index.ssf/2017/10/myles_garrett_placed_in_concus.html#incart_river_index
http://replygif.net/i/784.gif
I’ll help!
He is not good. He’s Seneca Wallace, or whoever else. He’s maybe a slightly better-than-average back up.
I’m curious, Browns finish 3-13 this year (so I win the prediction game), go 3-13 next year. You still on board with the HBT?
Saquon at #1.
Lamar at #15-ish. (This is possible according to the mocks I’ve seen)
I’m good with that.