The Cleveland Browns made yet another splash the Friday before free agency, this time around acquiring one the NFL’s most underrated pass rushers.
According to multiple reports (first reported by NFL Network), the Browns acquired New York Giants pass rusher Olivier Vernon in exchange for Kevin Zeitler; Cleveland also received New York’s fifth-round pick and parted ways with their fourth-round pick.
Although the Browns dumped a hefty contract in Zeitler, they added another one in Vernon. The former Giants pass rusher, Vernon is slated to make $15.25M per year as his base salary in 2019 and 2020, with a $250K workout bonus.
Because of the expensive price tag, the Browns are looking to construct a new deal with Veron, according to a report from Pro Football Talk. Mike Florio reports, “Per a league source, it’s believed that the Browns will be doing a revised deal with Vernon” and “the wheels presumably are in motion for whatever the revised deal will be; otherwise, the Browns wouldn’t have agreed to make the move.”
The Browns could go in a few different directions to restructure Vernon’s deal such as convert a chunk of change of his salary into his signing bonus, which would allow the money to be placed up-front. Or, they could go the route of terminating his current contract and striking a new one; a good idea in theory but would cause a logistical mess.
The trade will be made official on Wednesday at 4:00 P.M. E.T,
