Browns terminate contracts of four players

The Cleveland Browns released four players on Monday as the club begins its offseason roster makeover prior to the start of free agency.

The club released - or in their terms “terminated the contracts of” - cornerback T.J. Carrie, tight end Demetrius Harris, guard Eric Kush and linebacker Adarius Taylor.

The moves by general manager Andrew Berry open up approximately $13.3 million in cap space for the Browns:

The only mild surprise is releasing Carrie, who spent the past two seasons with the Browns after singing with the club as an unrestricted free agent in 2018. During his time in Cleveland, Carrie appeared in 32 games, making 14 starts, and posted 125 tackles, forced three fumbles, had two sacks, recovered two fumbles and defended 12 passes, according to the team’s website.

Carrie was a bit of a “jack of all trades, but master of none” as he moved around the secondary, but wasn’t very good overall.

The other three were probably some of the easiest decisions that Berry will make in the coming weeks.

Kush, who was signed as a free agent in 2019, opened the season as the starting right guard after the Austin Corbett experiment failed, but was benched for Wyatt Teller midway through the season. It was the second consecutive year that Kush was benched during the season. He allowed 19 quarterback pressures in the seven games he started, and finished with the season a Pro Football Focus’ run grade of 46.8 and an overall grade of 45.4.

Harris, another free agent signing in 2019, played in 15 games, making six starts, and finished the year with 15 receptions for 149 yards and three touchdowns.

Taylor, yet another free agent singing from 2019, appeared in 15 games, mostly on special teams, and finished the year with eight special teams tackles.