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On Monday, the Cleveland Browns announced that they have terminated the contract of veteran safety Morgan Burnett.
Last offseason, Burnett signed a 2-year deal worth $7.5 million. Burnett was set to count toward about $4.7 million against the cap in 2020. By cutting him, he will only count as $1.325 million in dead cap space due to his signing bonus. The decision to cut him now makes sense because ordering to Over the Cap, Burnett would have been due a $625,000 roster bonus if he was still on the roster by the 3rd day of the 2020 league year (which would have been this coming Friday).
Burnett started 8 games for Cleveland last year, registering 41 tackles, 2 sacks, and 1 interception. An Achilles injury ended his season early. Cleveland now has a vacancy for their starting strong safety role, and all expectations are that they will let free safety Damarious Randall be an unrestricted free agent as well. Expect Cleveland to make a push for a safety in free agency.