Looking at the Browns' 2016 Salaries by Unit: Offense, Defense, and Special Teams

This post is going to take a look at how much money the Browns have invested in offense, defense, and special teams leading into the 2016 NFL offseason, with the data being current as of February 14th and pulled from Over The Cap. When we look at the Browns' available cap space, we are only factoring in the Top 51 contracts on the team. For the purpose of analyzing money committed to all positions, we are looking at all 58 contracts on the team.

Offense

The Browns have invested $60.44 million on offensive players, which is the 22nd highest figure in the NFL. The investments, in order from highest to lowest position, are as follows: WR ($14.77 million), OT ($11.08 million), QB ($9.51 million), C ($8.53 million), OG ($7.01 million), TE ($6.17 million), and RB ($3.39 million).

Defense

The Browns have invested $76.79 million on defensive players, which is the 3rd highest figure in the NFL. The investments, in order from highest to lowest position, are as follows: CB ($26.28 million), OLB ($15.13 million), DE ($14.66 million), S ($10.75 million), ILB ($7.32 million), and NT ($2.66 million).

Special Teams

The Browns have invested $3.36 million on special teams players (no ranking currently available).

Total

Cumulatively, the Browns have invested $140.60 million on players, which is ranked 10th in the NFL*. These figures do not include dead money toward players who are no longer with the team, but the pie charts should give you a general idea as to where the Browns stand in positional spending. Some figures are a little misleading, since defensive ends, nose tackles, and/or outside linebackers sometimes split work at different positions.

These rankings do not take into account any free agents, restricted or unrestricted. Therefore, big-time pending contracts like OT Mitchell Schwartz and FS Tashaun Gipson are not accounted for. Smaller contracts, like exclusive rights free agent deals for NT Jamie Meder, aren't included either, even though they will likely be tendered.

The Browns' most lucrative-invested position is cornerback, where they have the second highest amount in the NFL, only behind the Jets' ridiculous amount at $39 million.

*Special teams calculations are approximated to be the same for every NFL team, as Over the Cap's total amounts only include offense and defense.