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Earlier, we covered all of the Cleveland Browns' restricted free agents. The team also faces decisions on six exclusive rights free agents who they will need to make decisions on by 4:00 PM on March 9th. An explanation on what exclusive rights free agents are, along with this year's tender amounts, are in the sidebar below.
What Are ERFA / Tender Amounts?
The ERFA label applies to players who have less than three accrued seasons in the NFL (i.e. 6 games or more on the roster or IR).
Under the ERFA rules, the Browns could offer these players a one-year tender for $600,000, $525,000, or $450,000 based on tenured years in the league, which is equivalent to the minimum salary for a player with that number of accrued seasons. If the Browns make an offer to an ERFA, no other team would be able to sign the player.
List of the Browns' ERFA
- RB Raheem Mostert
- WR Darius Jennings
- OL Darrian Miller
- OL Kaleb Johnson
- NT Jamie Meder
- K Travis Coons
Analysis
According to his agent, the Browns have already tendered Mostert, which means it's possible they already extended tender offers to some of the other players too.
Among the other five players, Coons and Meder seem like sure-bets to receive tenders. Coons was the team's kicker all of last season and didn't miss a field goal that wasn't blocked. As a role player, Meder did a solid job at nose tackle, with some even believing that he played better than NT Danny Shelton, the team's first overall pick.
Conclusion
The Browns should just tender all of the players. Even if some of them like Miller and Johnson have lesser of a chance of sticking around, exclusive rights tenders are for the league minimum salary and non-guaranteed, so by tendering them, they are basically "not cutting them."