Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland.Takeaways from the David Njoku contract extension …He throws nickels around like manhole covers.That’s always been the derogatory line about tight-fisted team owners or GMs unwilling to pay their players market value. Legendary Chicago Bears owner/coach George Halas and Cincinnati Bengals GM Mike Brown notoriously fell into this group.
Browns GM Andrew Berry has been the opposite. He throws dollars like Monopoly money. Berry is the best thing to happen to Browns players.
Berry is completing his third transaction season as general manager of the Browns. In that time, he has signed seven players he inherited on the roster to contract extensions.
Here’s the breakdown by year.
2020Defensive end Myles Garrett: five years/$125 million. Guaranteed money: $100 million.
Running back Kareen Hunt: two years/$12 million. Guaranteed money: $5.5 million.
2021Running back Nick Chubb: three years/$36.6 million. Guaranteed money: $20 million.
Left guard Joel Bitonio: three years/$48 million. Guaranteed money: $22.102 million.
Right guard Wyatt Teller: four years/$56.8 million. Guaranteed money: $29.091 million.
2022Cornerback Denzel Ward: five years/$100.5 million. Guaranteed money: $71.25 million.
Tight end David Njoku: four years/$56.75 million. Guaranteed money: $28 million.
So, among those seven players receiving contract extensions, Berry doled out $275.943 million in guaranteed money.
Now, let’s look at Berry’s largesse another way.
This is the
fully guaranteed money that Berry has committed to players just this season alone.
Quarterback Deshaun Watson: $230 million.
Cornerback Denzel Ward: $71.25 million.
Tight end David Njoku: $28 million.
Wide receiver Amari Cooper: $20 million.
Quarterback Baker Mayfield: $18.858 million.
Defensive end Jadeveon Clowney: $9.25 million.
Quarterback Jacoby Brissett: $4.5 million.
Linebacker Anthony Walker: $4 million.
Defensive tackle Taven Bryan: $3.25 million.
Returner/receiver Jakeem Grant: $3.035 million.
Offensive tackle Chris Hubbard: $2.66 million.
Punter Corey Bojorquez: $1.5 million.
Center/guard Ethan Pocic: $1.0475 million.
Defensive end Stephen Weatherly: $650,000.
Safety Ronnie Harrison: $400,000.
Defensive end Isaac Rochelle: $152,500.
Defensive tackle Sheldon Day: $25,000.
Total guaranteed money committed in 2022: $398.578 million.
Some footnotes* These figures do not include guaranteed money committed to 2022 draft picks and undrafted players given signing bonuses.
* Running back D’Ernest Johnson’s $2.433 million restricted free agent tender, which he has signed, does not have any guarantees.
* Quarterback Josh Dobbs has no guaranteed money.
* By trading with Dallas for Cooper, the Browns inherited $60 million over the next three years. They restructured his 2022 compensation to a $1.12 million guaranteed base salary and $18.88 million in a cash bonus, and added two void years. The restructuring created $15.1 million n 2022 salary cap space.
* All contract figures are courtesy of Overthecap.com and Spotrac.com.
Where they rankWatson is second among quarterbacks in average per year earnings at $46 million. Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers is first at $50.21 million per year.
Chubb is sixth among running backs at $12.2 million. Hunt is 15
th at $6 million. Carolina’s Christian McCaffery is first $16.015 million.
Cooper is tied for ninth among receivers at $20 million. Miami’s Tyreek Hill is first at $30 million.
Njoku is fourth among tight ends at $14.1875 million. San Francisco’s George Kittle is first at $15 million.
Bitonio is tied for first among left guards with Kansas City’s Joe Thuney at $16 million.
Teller is second among right guards at $14.2 million. Jacksonville’s Brandon Scherff is first at $16.5 million.
Garrett is third among defensive ends at $25 million. Clowney is 30
th at $10 million. Pittsburgh’s T.J. Watt is first at $28.002 million.
Ward is second among cornerbacks at $20.1 million. Green Bay’s Jaire Alexander is first at $21 million.
To give you an idea of how fleeting these rankings are, when the Browns signed Charley Hughlett to a six-year extension for $6.37 million in 2017, Hughlett ranked first in annual average among long snappers. Today, he ranks 22
nd.
A final noteGiven the way owner Jimmy Haslam has unblinkingly committed nearly $400 million in future money on players this year alone, it’s perplexing why the Browns are taking such a hard-line stance in ongoing trade talks involving Mayfield.
According to the
Charlotte Observer, the draft weekend trade talks with the Panthers collapsed because the Browns refused to eat $14 million of Mayfield’s $18.858 million guaranteed salary in 2022.
The
Observer did not report what the Panthers would be willing to give up in a trade for Mayfield, but they later traded their third-round pick in 2023 to New England to move into the third round this year to select quarterback Matt Corral of Mississippi.
If the Browns could have “purchased” the Panthers’ third-round pick in 2023 by assuming $14 million of Mayfield’s 2022 contract, they should have done it.
Doing so actually would have created another $4.858 million in salary cap room in 2022. That’s because Mayfield’s $18.858 million already is calculated into the Browns’ salary cap.
This really makes me wonder if the Browns are taking this whole Mayfield situation personally.
