Browns $19 Million Pass-Rusher Likely Cap Casualty of Deshaun Watson’s Contract
The Cleveland Browns have to move some money around if they hope to contend again next season, which will probably include cutting the contracts of multiple contributors.
Joe Tansey of Bleacher Report on Wednesday, January 31, compiled a list of three salaries the franchise would be better off slashing in the coming months. Atop those suggestions was the name of defensive end Ogbonnia Okoronkwo.
The Browns have just over $30 million committed to [Myles] Garrett, Dalvin Tomlinson and Ogbonnia Okoronkwo next season. Okoronkwo’s contract is the easiest to get rid of in the offseason because it is the cheapest of the three deals.
The defensive end, who signed from the Houston Texans last offseason, could be a salary cap casualty if the Browns can’t restructure some deals to become more compliant. Okoronkwo had a solid season opposite Garrett with 4.5 sacks, 12 tackles for loss and eight quarterback hits. He would be a terrific piece to have around for a second season, but with so much money tied up in [Deshaun] Watson’s contract, the Browns may have to make some unpopular budget cuts.
Also mentioned on Tansey’s list were wide receiver Elijah Moore and tight end Jordan Akins.
Ogbo Okoronkwo Wants to Remain With Browns, but Decision Won’t Be His to Make
Okoronkwo doesn’t want to exit Cleveland after just one season. He stated that fact on social media recently after posting a vague message that had Browns fans wondering if the opposite was true.
“The universe got a funny way of showing what’s for/not for you,” Okoronkwo posted to X on the morning of January 17.
Approximately an hour and a half later, the defensive end posted the following message to clear up any ambiguity about his professional happiness.
“I guess that last tweet was misleading,” Okoronkwo wrote. “God willing I retire a Brown! 😂”
Unfortunately for the Browns defender, it will be the front office that decides his future in Cleveland, and the organization’s past blunders may cost the city Okoronkwo — and more.
Browns Have Handcuffed Themselves Financially With Deshaun Watson’s Contract
Okoronkwo signed a three-year, $19 million deal to join the Browns last offseason, and his salary cap hit in 2024 is a meager $4.1 million. The problem is that Watson’s $230 million albatross of a contract is poised to render bargains like Okoronkwo the mangled casualties of its $64 million cap hit in each of the next three seasons.
If the Browns decide to part ways with Okoronkwo, either via a cut or a trade, they must wait until after June 1 to do so. Moving on before then creates negative financial value, per Over The Cap, while doing so after that date will save Cleveland $2.1 million against the cap in 2024 and $2.75 million in 2025. The dead money hit over those two years — cash for which the organization is still on the hook, but which won’t count against the cap — is a combined $4.55 million.
Meanwhile, Watson is playing on arguably the worst contract in the NFL. The quarterback would be a minus-value player on a much smaller and more manageable deal after making just 12 total starts across two seasons due to an NFL suspension in 2022 and a shoulder injury last year — each costing him 11 regular-season games, respectively.
Unfortunately for the the city of Cleveland and players like Okoronkwo, the Browns made their own bed by signing Watson. Now they have to sleep in it.
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