The Cleveland Browns have some work to do going into the 2022 NFL offseason. The team underachieved for their goals in 2021 but bring back much of the same core for 2022. Due to injuries, free agency and performance, that core will need additions to it especially if the team loses players like David Njoku and Jadeveon Clowney.
In our Mock Offseason 1.0, we took a look at some ways we thought the Browns could improve through free agency, a trade and the NFL draft. We know that free agency may not be robust this year despite the team having over $20 million in cap space.
Cleveland can get more cap space with a few moves but still may be working on signing Denzel Ward to an extension, which will not come cheap.
If the team wants to shake things up and make some pricey moves before the NFL draft, there are a few players they could cut to add more cap space. For all of those noted below, we are using the “after June 1st” cap saving for only 2022. Each release could impact 2023’s salary cap with more dead cap that year as well.
The following players would all save the Browns over $3 million in salary-cap space if released with the “post-June 1st” designation:
