Off the field, Sheldon Richardson was a go-to guy in the locker room for media. On the field, he was amazingly consistent and dependable. (Associated Press)
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland.
Takeaways from Browns free agent spending and Sheldon Richardson’s release …
It’s not fair or accurate to say the signing of Jadeveon Clowney directly led to Sheldon Richardson’s release, or that the Browns simply traded Clowney’s $8 million in 2021 base salary for Richardson’s scheduled $12 million.
When you dive into the details of the contracts, a more accurate analysis is that Richardson’s demise was the result of the totality of the Browns’ six free agent acquisitions -- all on defense.
Through the creative use of “voidable years,” Browns GM Andrew Berry ultimately signed six players for a combined 2021 salary cap figure of $16.75 million. Richardson’s 2021 salary cap figure alone would have been $13.66 million.
So Berry essentially added six defensive players for roughly $3 million more than had he kept Richardson.
Here are the 2021 salary cap figures of the new players, based on contract data provided by Spotrac.com and Overthecap.com:
Berry used voidable years in the contracts of every player except McKinley. Now, there is a cost to using voidable years, which serve to push additional cap charges into future years.
In Clowney’s case, for example, his $4.5 million signing bonus counts $900,000 towards the cap in 2021 – instead of $4.5 million -- because of four voidable years contained in the contract. However, when Clowney’s four remaining years are automatically voided after 2021, $3.6 million (four years X $900,000) will be charged to the Browns’ 2022 cap.
The total future charges against the Browns’ salary cap – aka “dead money” -- amount to these:
It means the Browns’ salary cap will be reduced by these amounts in the given years when the five players, presumably, could be long gone.
Cold hard cash
In real dollars, Richardson was scheduled to make $12 million in the last year of his contract in 2021.
The six incoming free agents will receive a total of $33.495 million in fully guaranteed money (salary + bonuses) at signing.
Mr. Consistency
Richardson will be missed, no doubt. Among the media, he was considered a “go to” guy in the locker room for his availability, insight and outspokenness. On the field, Richardson’s entire eight-year NFL career has been marked by incredible consistency of energy and production.
Over his eight seasons with four teams, Richardson averaged 752 snaps on defense. In his two seasons with the Browns, he averaged 787.
In eight seasons, Richardson averaged 57 tackles, 11.5 quarterback hits and 3.9 sacks. In two seasons with the Browns, he averaged 63 tackles, 8.0 quarterback hits and 3.75 sacks.
Roster ramifications
Richardson’s release leaves the tackle roster one man short, sort of.
Right now, they have Jackson, Andrew Billings, Jordan Elliott and Sheldon Day, who, not coincidentally, was re-signed from the 2020 practice squad the day before Richardson was released.
When the Browns signed Clowney, Berry indicated that coordinator Joe Woods will deploy Clowney inside on occasion. “The other thing we love about Jadeveon is his versatility, his ability to play all across the front and impact the game regardless of his alignment,” Berry said.
So it’s possible, as traditional positions become even more blurred in the Woods defensive system, that the Browns don’t feel the need to add a conventional defensive tackle to replace Richardson.
Still, don’t ignore Alabama tackle Christian Barmore as a player of even more interest to the Browns in the first round. Barmore, the top-rated tackle in the draft, generally has been mocked as high as No. 14 and as low as the second round. Prior to the release of Richardson, I have mocked Barmore to the Browns two times in eight mock drafts.
If nothing else, you might pencil in a defensive tackle somewhere among the nine picks the Browns currently own.
The two-year rule
Richardson’s release underscored a reality of free agency. No matter the multi-year length of a player’s contract, most deals are written to give teams a palatable “out” after two years.
Most of the guaranteed money is contained in the first two years. That limits the “dead money” accelerated to the salary cap if the player is released. (The increasing use of voidable years, however, adds to future dead money.)
Here are the savings on the Browns’ salary cap of some random contracts if the players were let go after 2021:
Something to watch a year from now.