The Cleveland Browns have added wide receiver Jerry Jeudy in a trade with the Denver Broncos. And in doing so, have taken on a $12.9 million cap hit in the form of the former first rounder’s fifth-year option, which Denver picked up a year ago.
Look for the Browns to restructure that deal so a large chunk of that almost $13 million will not count against the salary cap.
After all, the Browns just did this with the fifth-year option of their own in Jedrick Wills. Fifth-year options are all base salary and very minimal bonuses. In Jeudy’s case, there are no bonuses to it.
This makes the contract extremely easy to restructure. The Browns could easily restructure the deal of Jeudy, pay out his base up front as a bonus out of the pocket of the owner, and then save that money off the cap on the back end.
What this means is the Browns will also likely add a void year or two to the back of Jeudy’s contract, where he will have a dead money hit even after he is not on the team. However, as the salary cap continues to rise, one dollar in 2024 will cost only a fraction of that in future years.
And that will likely happen at some point.
