The Cleveland Browns have a lot of work to do in the 2022 offseason to return to the playoffs after missing in 2021. Jarvis Landry wants to get back to the postseason, his contract might make that less likely, while Jadeveon Clowney enjoyed his time in Cleveland but is going to let money decide his next destination.
With the NFL salary cap set to rise to $208.2 million, plenty of teams will have money to spend in free agency. The Browns have Denzel Ward and Baker Mayfield entering the final years of their rookie deals along with a few defenders set to become free agents this season.
Monday came word that the team, as expected, rolled over the remaining salary cap space from 2021 into 2022:
NFL teams recently declared unused 2021 cap space rollover amounts (below).
After the playoffs, the NFL will audit incentives, bonuses, etc by team. That figure will be added/subtracted to the number below.
The sum + the 2022 Salary Cap = each team's 2022 adjusted cap number. pic.twitter.com/BMThnJyLpa
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) January 17, 2022
As Yates notes, that means Cleveland’s total salary cap is just under $219 million for the 2022 season. According to Over The Cap, the Browns are set to have just over $37 million in salary-cap space, based on the $219 million total cap for the team, going into 2022.
While that seems like a lot of space, Cleveland is currently set to have the 13th most going into 2022 with Miami leading the way with a whopping $73 million.
If the Browns don’t find free agents worth spending significant money on this offseason, the team could use that money to extend Ward with upfront cash or, like they just did, roll it over for future use.
