While the Cleveland Browns tend to spend more than almost every team in the NFL under general manager Andrew Berry, they are wise in their spending. This is reflected in the amount of dead cap the Browns are forced to eat yearly.
Despite utilizing void years, which kick a portion of a player’s bonus down the road (as the salary cap rises, hiding a chunk of that cap hit under future years is beneficial), the Browns are not strapped with a ton of dead money that would strap them down this year. They are strapped with dead money on just seven players, one of which is defensive end Jadeveon Clowney after pushing his bonuses down the road instead of paying the whole chunk upfront.
While it may look bad on paper, this has benefited the Browns as they were able to lower Clowney’s cap hit for the 2022 season, even if they’ve had to pay a small chunk of money out of the cap of future years. This has been a staple of how Berry opts to structure contracts.
Is this a league-wide trend or are the Browns outliers in terms of owing dead money? Here are all 32 teams ranked by how much dead money they are forced to eat in 2024 against their salary cap.
All numbers are from Over the Cap
1. Minnesota Vikings: $57,365,208
2. Los Angeles Chargers: $51,388,834
3. Carolina Panthers: $46,045,000
4. Green Bay Packers: $45,618,649
5. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: $40,960,080
6. Tennessee Titans: $39,629,754
7. Philadelphia Eagles: $37,899,435
8. Seattle Seahawks: $36,088,326
9. New York Jets: $34,536,969
10. Washington Commanders: $27,437,648
11. Las Vegas Raiders: $24,987,660
12. New Orleans Saints: $24,565,314
13. Pittsburgh Steelers: $24,381,069
14. Buffalo Bills: $23,886,301
15. Houston Texans: $23,787,319
16. Detroit Lions: $23,054,507
17. Miami Dolphins: $22,372,572
18. New England Patriots: $21,497,014
19. New York Giants: $19,042,850
20. Jacksonville Jaguars: $17,910,260
21. Dallas Cowboys: $17,910,260
22. Cleveland Browns: $15,639,450
23. Arizona Cardinals: $14,750,534
24. Denver Broncos: $14,068,124
25. Chicago Bears: $13,310,335
26. Baltimore Ravens: $12,086,530
27. San Francisco 49ers: $9,145,613
28. Indianapolis Colts: $8,360,289
29. Cincinnati Bengals: $6,525,689
30. Atlanta Falcons: $6,083,270
31. Kansas City Chiefs: $5,901,251
32. Los Angeles Rams: $4,152,765
