OUR VIEW:The Contract Andrew Berry And The Browns Wish They Could Take Back….
As the Browns embark on an offseason of inevitable change, there’s one contract in particular that may leave GM Andrew Berry and the organization feeling regretful as they attempt to navigate a hefty salary cap bill
Navigating a rising salary cap bill will be one of the biggest challenges facing Browns vice president of football operations and general manager Andrew Berry this offseason. The curse of building a playoff team is that it becomes increasingly difficult to retain everyone, even, at times, key starters. Nowadays, there are a number of savvy cap tactics a team can utilize to prolong a Super Bowl window, but those strategies aren’t a simple copy and paste for every contract. Each deal with a player is uniquely different and some are easier to manipulate to create cap savings than others
Fast forward to 2023 and the deal almost instantly became a problem after Conklin tore both the ACL and MCL in his left knee during the Browns season opener. The team was now set to pay a nearing 30-year-old tackle, coming off two serious knee surgeries in a three year span more than $28 million in guaranteed money over the next four years. Making the decision even more complicated was the unexpected emergence of Conklin’s replacement for the remainder of the season, rookie Dawand Jones. On one hand, nobody expected Jones – a fifth-round pick – to burst onto the scene so quickly. But after taking over for Conklin in Week 1, it became evident pretty early on that he was capable of holding his own as
