Throughout the offseason, the pandemic has held up contract signings for this year’s rookies as well as extensions. As the uncertainty continues, vice president of player personnel Glenn Cook admits that the Browns’ plans have “somewhat” changed their approach (via Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com).
[RELATED: Clowney’s Best Multi-Year Offer Came From Browns]
“All of that goes into play when we’re talking about any of these moves that we’re looking to make, whether it’s extensions, signing free agents, possibly trades or even going into 2021 and 2022,” Cook said. “It does somewhat change what our overall plan is and we actually initially did have some conversations around that just in terms of team planning — not specific to Myles [Garrett] — and just what that looks like given what COVID was saying in February, March or going into the next year. Yes, you do think about that with all the moves we make and all the decisions that may come into play now and into the season.”
The Browns’ intention to keep Garrett for the long haul hasn’t changed, but it sounds like the Browns’ may think long and hard about the payout structure for all of their forthcoming deals. Meanwhile, they’ve got nearly $40MM in cap space to work with this year. A truly conservative approach could see Cleveland hold on to some of those dollars and roll them into 2021, when things will hopefully be more stable.
Meanwhile, Jason Fitzgerald of Over The Cap (Twitter link) estimates that only a handful of teams prepared for a labor stoppage this year and wonders how many owners are instructing their GMs to halt spending, rather than planning proactively.
There’s not going to be a season. Not for any professional sports. COVID just won’t allow it. It sucks but it is what it is
Unfortunately, I tend to agree.
No great loss.
Says a guy on a sports focused website lol
They already started playing that other football (aka soccer).
Obviously, none of us know for sure what’s going to happen, but my guess is that of ALL the major professional sports leagues, the NFL is in the greatest danger of a disastrous rapid-spread. They have the biggest rosters, the most contact, and the season starts when many fear that it will be easier for the virus to spike again on its own… not even considering 22 guys at a time making constant contact with one another on the field. Due to the nature of the game, I suppose golf has the best chance of “surviving” the season, but with what we know now and a few educated guesses tossed in, I honestly don’t see how any other league has much of a chance to pull it off.
Maybe based on roster size and huge number of support staff, training, etc…..Basketball too, bubble or not, I think its almost impossible for it to work, and the players are all over each other, too. Toss in NHL, most team sports are screwed.
I thinks it possible that MMA, PGA, Tennis could find a way forward.
It’s looking more and more like Clowney significantly overplayed his hand.
Not that the Browns were necessarily the team that was going to sign him, but if most teams are putting a halt to their spending then he might get even less than his reported offers.
Agreed. Clowney might be lucky to get $10M. Also, if I’m Dak Prescott I sign whatever offer the Cowboys have in front of him right now. He could be the next to drastically overplay his hand.
I think Dak is in a stronger position than Clowney, being a QB.
Clowney absolutely overplayed his hand, though. He wants to be paid, which is totally understandable. He seems to also want that to be by some very specific destinations, however. He needs those teams to be willing and able, though. He’s just not that good where he can call this many shots.
My question is why he’s expecting such a huge payday after one of his least productive seasons. If I were him, I’d settle for a one-year deal to rebuild my stock and reap the benefits of next year’s market. If he were to sign with Cleveland for instance, he could collect extra sacks with offenses focused on Myles Garrett
To say it wasn’t a productive season would still be misleading, because even when he doesn’t put up sacks he still plays well against the run. But it’s definitely hard to get that kind of payday when you don’t have a lot of sacks on your resume, so I agree.
I think his best option would be to sign the most lucrative one-year deal he gets offered right now and take a year to build his resume (assuming there are still games) while taking time to re-examine his case in free agency next year. He’s a very useful player, but he has to understand that he probably cost himself a ton of money waiting for the perfect deal to present itself. (He also can’t get too selective about who he ends up with if he also wants top dollar.)
Rookie salary rates are pre-determined so that really isn’t an issue but does anyone actually think the cost of veteran extensions is going to get cheaper by delaying the negotiating processes?
I think this will probably lead to more contracts having structures tied to a percentage of the cap. That was already suggested for a Mahomes extension since the cap looked like it was going to spike again (in which case he could get paid more for it), but if someone were to sign an extension now that’s the only way I could see it working out since there’s no way to tell where the cap will go from here.
The owners have always been their own worst enemy in the battle to keep payroll costs down. The NFLPA has already stated that unilateral salary cuts are off the board regardless of cap limits.