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The Cleveland Browns have made their first move to save salary cap space but it isn’t one that was expected. Currently, Cleveland is over the salary cap going into the league year that starts in March. GM Andrew Berry must get that fixed before the league year begins.
Thankfully, Berry can do so quickly with a restructuring of QB Deshaun Watson’s contract. A few other decisions or restructures can add a lot of cap space for the team if they want to be players in the free-agent market.
While we await word on what the team will do with John Johnson III, today came news that WR/KR Jakeem Grant will likely stick around for 2023 after renegotiating his contract with the team:
The Panthers’ restructure of OL Austin Corbett’s contract converted $7.72M of his base salary into a bonus, creating $5.79M in cap space.
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) February 25, 2023
The Browns and KR/WR Jakeem Grant also agreed to a renegotiated deal that reduced his cap charge by $1.765M in 2023.
Grant was scheduled to count just over $3.5 million against the cap in 2023. Based on the above report, that is now cut in half.
A 31-year-old receiver and kick returner, Grant was signed with the hope that he could impact the offense with his open-field, yards-after-catch ability while also solving the team’s returner needs. With Bubba Ventrone taking over as special teams coordinator and assistant head coach Friday, the timing says Ventrone likes what Grant brings to the table.
With Amari Cooper, Donovan Peoples-Jones, David Bell and Grant seemingly locked into roster spots at receiver, Anthony Schwartz and Michael Woods II lead a cast of receivers looking to make the roster. Grant’s return could alter Cleveland’s draft plans as well.
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