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Free agency will officially begin on March 14th at 4:00 PM ET. The players below will have their contracts expire if the Cleveland Browns do not do anything by March 14th:
Unrestricted Free Agent
These are players who the Browns have no roster control over, other than exclusive negotiating rights up until a few days before free agency.
- RB Isaiah Crowell
- OL Marcus Martin
- DE Lavar Edwards
- CB B.W. Webb
Restricted Free Agent
These are for players who have at least three years of accrued service in the NFL (i.e. 6 games or more on the roster or IR). The Browns can choose to place a 1st round tender, 2nd round tender, or original round tender on each player.
Tender estimates for 2018 are not yet available, but last year’s amounts were $3.91 million for the 1st round tender, $2.746 million for the 2nd round tender, and $1.797 million for original round tenders. Expect the amounts to be about 10% higher, and they will be set in stone once the 2018 salary cap is established. Another team can sign a player with a tender, but they would owe that team the corresponding draft pick if the team opts not to match the offer. If these players are not tendered by the start of free agency, they revert to unrestricted free agents.
- OL Tyler Loos
- DE Jamie Meder
- ILB Josh Keyes
Exclusive-Rights Free Agent
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, minimum salary tender for $480,000, $555,000, or $630,000 based on credited seasons (i.e. 3 games or more on the roster, but not including IR) (i.e. in the league. If the Browns make an offer to an ERFA, no other team would be able to sign the player.
- QB Kevin Hogan
- FB Danny Vitale
- WR Josh Gordon
- C Austin Reiter
- OG Chris Barker
- CB C.J. Smith
Over the next several days, we will do a free agent review for each of these players, determining whether we feel they should be retained for the 2018 season.