The start of Senior Bowl workouts on Tuesday mark the beginning of Browns GM Andrew Berry's draft and free agency seasons. (USA Today)
Senior Bowl workouts mark unofficial opening of 2023 draft season
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland. He has covered the Browns since 1984.
Takeaways from the NFL just-beginning and never-ending offseason …
Super Bowl 57 may be two weeks away, but the 2023 transaction season is ramping up.
Senior Bowl practices kick off Tuesday in Mobile, AL. It is the unofficial beginning of the draft season. At the same time, though, the league has informed teams and the players union that the salary cap in 2023 will be $224.8 million – a rise of about 17 percent – signalling that NFL free agency is about five weeks away.
So begins the time of year that general managers juggle college draft and NFL veteran free-agent scouting.
Representing the Browns at the Senior Bowl are GM Andrew Berry, his assistant GMs, Glenn Cook and Cat Raiche, and the rest of the personnel staff, along with a smattering of coaches.
This is the last chance to see prospects actually competing on a football field rather than in the linear testing drills at the NFL Combine a month from now.
More than 100 prospects for the 2023 draft are on hand, the vast majority of which will be drafted in the middle rounds. These are the rounds that Berry must hit bulls-eyes to improve the team without a first-round pick.
The Browns currently have eight picks in the 2023 draft – their own in Rounds 2 (43rd), 4 (111th), 5 (143rd), 6 (189th), and 7 (231st); plus a compensatory pick after Round 3 (99th) because of losing personnel exec Kwase Adofo-Mensa to the Vikings last year, Minnesota’s pick in Round 4 (130th), and the Rams’ pick in Round 5 (141st).
At the Senior Bowl, Berry and his staff will get a jumpstart on one-on-one interviews with dozens of players before leaving Mobile prior to the game on Saturday.
Salary cap ups and downs
The days of the Browns leading the NFL in salary cap space are over.
With massive contracts previously given to Deshaun Watson, Myles Garrett, Amari Cooper and Denzel Ward taking major jumps in cap value in 2023, the Browns actually are $14.65 million OVER the designated cap figure of $224.8 million, per Overthecap.com.
That means Berry will be busy in the coming weeks seeking to restructure some of these deals to get under the cap by the start of the 2023 league year on March 15.
It’s not unusual – 13 other teams currently are over the salary cap. The leaders in salary cap space, which include the Cincinnati Bengals at $43.7 million, are the teams with quarterbacks still on their rookie contracts. Those Halcyon days ended for the Browns with the Watson acquisition.
It's the major reason Berry's job will be tougher in the years ahead.
Déjà vu, all over again
The first thought I had when seeing 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy’s right elbow wrenched on a hit by Philadelphia pass rusher Haason Reddick in the NFC Championship Game was Bernie Kosar.
The Browns quarterback had a similar injury in the first game of the 1988 season when Kansas City safety Lloyd Burruss made the exact same hit.
Purdy’s injury was diagnosed as a complete tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in his right throwing elbow. Reports are that the hope is Purdy can have the ligament repaired by surgery rather than a complete reconstruction via the more radical “Tommy John surgery.”
Nevertheless, Purdy is expected to be sidelined for six months. At that timetable, he could be ready for the beginning of training camp.
Back in 1988, Kosar’s injury was termed “strained ligaments.” He had no surgery and returned to play in seven weeks. He never regained the above-average arm strength he possessed before the injury. It helped to shorten his career.
