The Cleveland Browns are big spenders. This has been the case since GM Andrew Berry took over and seemingly got free reign with Jimmy Hasalam’s checkbook. With the recent contract extension for LB Jeremiah Owusu-KoramoahThe Browns lead the league in big contracts.

Despite all these big deals, Berry still aggressively tried to acquire WR Brandon Aiyuk while training camp was underway. Although one former executive has strong opinions on the move, Cleveland is clearly still willing and able to spend despite others having concerns about their salary cap.

One of the reasons Berry has been able to spend money (besides Haslam’s bank account) is because he’s done it mostly on players who still produce for the team. While the final cuts could change the numbers slightly after training camp, the Browns are near the bottom of the league in dead cap hits:

What’s interesting is that, in addition to Cleveland, there are two very good teams and two teams that have struggled in the bottom six areas of dead cap spending.

As the NFL’s salary cap continues to rise significantly year after year, the dead cap becomes more of a planned tactic than a problem. Still, Berry has kept the number low because he hasn’t had to release many high-paid players.

Almost all of the Browns’ dead cap hit amount comes from the release of John Johnson And Jadeveon Clowney (which added void years leading up to the technical release.) Berry even used post-June 1 designations on both of these releases to spread the dead cap hit across two seasons instead of one.

No other player costs more than $1 million against the cap when not playing for the team.

Are you surprised at how low the Browns rank in the dead cap hit for the 2024 salary cap?