Denzel Ward Signs Extension

[Canton Dawg]

[Comeonman]

Glad we get to keep Ward long term. Hope we can stay under the cap. 

[D Bone]

His 'highest paid CB in NFL history' label is even more impressive when his salary is divided by the 9 games he plays each season...

[tiamat63]

21 minutes ago, D Bone said:

His 'highest paid CB in NFL history' label is even more impressive when his salary is divided by the 9 games he plays each season...

[Ibleedbrown]

34 minutes ago, tiamat63 said:

A half sack in 4 years isn’t very good. 

[Orion]

Good news.  A very good player at a very important position!

[Dutch Oven]

I won't even begin to lie and say I'm a wiz at crunching salary cap numbers, because I've never cared enough about that side of football, but man the Browns spend money like the Dodgers in MLB - but they are in the NFL.

I have no idea how they are going to be able to afford Garrett, Watson, Chubb, Bitonio, Teller, Ward, etc... Like I keep bracing myself for the inevitable "Well yes, So-And-So is a talented player in their prime, but we can't pay EVERYONE" moment, except apparently with the Browns it is never coming?

[Orion]

19 minutes ago, Dutch Oven said:

I have no idea how they are going to be able to afford

Yeah, we know that Ward is not going to see much of that last 30 million from the Browns, that's for sure.

...I just got a notification that I've reached rookie status. 

[hoorta]

1 hour ago, D Bone said:

His 'highest paid CB in NFL history' label is even more impressive when his salary is divided by the 9 games he plays each season...

Exactly... I had to look it up... I'll take Patrick Peterson as the standard of excellence at CB...  In his 11 seasons, he's played all 16 games in 9 of them.  Guaranteeing Ward $70 million with his injury history is foolish IMHO... I was hoping he'd take a hometown discount.. Silly me.  That said- I love the guy, went to the same High School (Nordonia) as my nieces and nephew.  

[syd]

so who was that here that said Ward would be gone because of the watson deal ?

[Unsympathetic]

Yikes.  Obviously he's good, but the injuries are concerning .. availability is the #1 ability.. 12/17 is a hair over 70%.  As well, 100M over 5 years at 12 games per season is 1.67M per game; Ramsey's salary[23.2M next season] implies 1.45M per game.

Just for fun, here's a look at Ramsey's availability the last 4 years:

2020 saw him play 15, every other one has been 16 games except for 2019 when Jags had him deactivated for [nearly] punching a coach, as one does.

4 additional games a year adds up..

[nickers]

4 hours ago, Comeonman said:

Glad we get to keep Ward long term. Hope we can stay under the cap. 

Hope he can stay healthy...

[D Bone]

1 hour ago, syd said:

fuck what the hell are you talking about ? Ward isnt getting paid to sack a q.b ya dumbfuck

His invisible pink font went right over your head. 

[Orion]

2 hours ago, syd said:

so who was that here that said Ward would be gone because of the watson deal ?

...dunno...but now I wonder how much money there is to throw at Clowney.  He's a true mercenary.  His spot and DT are the holes left in the D.

On offense it's WR.  If we can sign Landry back then we don't have to use pick #44 on a WR.  But I'm sure that Landry's watching the money the Browns are throwing around so I'm not sure what his money attitude is towards us right now.  

If we could sign Landry and/or Clowney in the next couple of weeks then we wouldn't have to fill their position(s) at pick #44.  We COULD, and MIGHT pick WR or DE at pick 44, but we wouldn't absolutely have to.

[Dutch Oven]

8 minutes ago, Orion said:

...dunno...but now I wonder how much money there is to throw at Clowney.  He's a true mercenary.  His spot and DT are the holes left in the D.

On offense it's WR.  If we can sign Landry back then we don't have to use pick #44 on a WR.  But I'm sure that Landry's watching the money the Browns are throwing around so I'm not sure what his money attitude is towards us right now.  

If we could sign Landry and/or Clowney in the next couple of weeks then we wouldn't have to fill their position(s) at pick #44.  We COULD, and MIGHT pick WR or DE at pick 44, but we wouldn't absolutely have to.

Of course we don't have to, but as you pretty much have said, Landry and Clowney are stopgaps.

The Browns have a ton of money tied up now, and replacing high-priced vets like those two guys with cheaper young players on rookie deals is going to have to be done. Plus, at the DE spot especially, you can never have too many players who can rush the QB. 

[SdBacker80]

I think Clowney is a must.  Garrett is good but you can gameplan against pressure from one side.  I’m looking at the roster and I don’t see a threat and I don’t think at 44 there is a legitimate pass rush threat to compensate for that loss. 
 

Clowney and Travis Jones at 44.  Make me feel really good about this D.

Pierce or any other WR that falls in the 3rd and let’s roll next year I’d love to have Landry back but you can’t have it all.

[ballpeen]

5 hours ago, Dutch Oven said:

I won't even begin to lie and say I'm a wiz at crunching salary cap numbers, because I've never cared enough about that side of football, but man the Browns spend money like the Dodgers in MLB - but they are in the NFL.

I have no idea how they are going to be able to afford Garrett, Watson, Chubb, Bitonio, Teller, Ward, etc... Like I keep bracing myself for the inevitable "Well yes, So-And-So is a talented player in their prime, but we can't pay EVERYONE" moment, except apparently with the Browns it is never coming?

I think all the players you mention are locked for for 2-3-4 years.  By the time some come to another contract, we probably won't want to keep the,...Bitonio due to age and Chubb due to short shelf life come to mind.

[Orion]

53 minutes ago, Dutch Oven said:

The Browns have a ton of money tied up now, and replacing high-priced vets like those two guys with cheaper young players on rookie deals is going to have to be done

There's that truth.

 

23 minutes ago, SdBacker80 said:

I don’t think at 44 there is a legitimate pass rush threat to compensate for that loss. 

And there's this truth.

 

...and there's one more truth.  We ain't won since 1964.  To change that we gotta do what we gotta do.  And it seems they're in 'gotta do' mode.

[Nero]

I love the guy and the player, but if he has suffered so many injuries in the first years of his career... Either he learns to keep his hamstrings and groins available all weeks or I'm thinking is a bit too much money. 

I don't know how are we paying all the players in future seasons... 

[ballpeen]

With Ward I think back to Greg Williams talking about how he better learn to tackle without letting a 250 lb man run in to his face...lol

[gumby73]

If your a lifetime Browns fan, that can't get excited for the local kid, to finally get paid from his rookie deal? I can't help you 😎

smart choices.. If your injured in a contract season? Don't Play!  Congrats D. Ward-en ! #21

real contract numbers will be coming out soon.. Ask Myles Garrett how long he was the highest paid player at his position?  Agents know the new Cap revenue is coming  💰

 

[bjh2130]

2 hours ago, gumby73 said:

Agents know the new Cap revenue is coming  💰

 

This is a big part people are overlooking. Jalen ramsey was extended in 2020 when the cap was going down and got 100 million. Ward got 500k more and the cap is expected to go way up in the next two years.  Corners will be getting 120 for 5 years in the next two years and if you look at it that way this is not a bad deal at all. Someone earlier asked how the browns were going to pay people with all this money flying around and the answer is simply watch the salary cap grow

[Unsympathetic]

2 hours ago, bjh2130 said:

and the cap is expected to go way up in the next two years

12M dead on the 2022 & 7.5M dead on the 2023 caps thanks to the guys we've released or contracts that were already spread out over those years.  Classic example is Clowney playing last year for 3.5 on last year's cap and 3.5 on the 2022 cap.  And the Baker deal isn't made yet!

12-15 dead a year is really not sustainable.. Yes, the cap "goes up" - but not an infinite amount.

 

Can't say that top players aren't coming to Cleveland any more, though!

 

Other thing I look for moving forward regarding cap success is being able to take those mid-to-late-round picks [at whatever position] and improve them enough to become not just starters but stars.. Teller is probably the first/best example of that.  This item looks at the coaching staff's teaching ability which hasn't been considered enough in the discussions of both cap management and long-term team success.

 

Coaching ability impacts a team's drafting strategy because with better coaches we could draft the guys who are judged to have higher athletic "ceilings" and thus as a team our own performance ceiling would be greater.. whereas if we have to take college guys who aren't as athletic because we can't count on our staff to walk and chew gum at the same time, then we get LB's who can't cover in space, WR's who can't beat press, etc.  Pay Callahan whatever he's asking for plus about 500k, he's worth all of it.  I don't know enough about the rest -- here's hoping they can get someone dominant to coach up the young DL.  Myles and Denzel were likely always going to be superstars, staff gets some but very few points for those..

[bjh2130]

43 minutes ago, Unsympathetic said:

Yes, the cap "goes up" - but not an infinite amount.

Obviously it's not an infinite amount but it went up 25 million this year and with the new TV deals it is forecasted to go up more than that each of the next two years. 

However my point remains comparing ramsey to ward isn't apples to apples as when ramsey was given is 20 mil a year the cap was significantly lower than when ward got his 20.1 million a year. In very basic and elementary terms the year ramsey signed a deal that took up 10.9% of the cap and this year the deal ward signed takes up 9.6%

[SdBacker80]

With Ward on board this likely means Greedy and Hill are gone after this season…so this is where the cheap young drafted talent needs to fill in and make a similar impact.  I see a day 2 pick either this year or next at Corner. 
 

 

[Orion]

5 hours ago, SdBacker80 said:

With Ward on board this likely means Greedy and Hill are gone after this season…

Greedy has missed 21 games.

[syd]

22 hours ago, D Bone said:

His invisible pink font went right over your head. 

na i figured it out and was like fuck it i posted it it can stay

[gumby73]

Ward's contract extension details:

#Browns gain $8.259m of 2022 cap

  

 

OTC---Browns Cap Space: $28,197,215....

Day/Dobbs/Weatherly deals are not finalized from this cap number

 

https://overthecap.com/player/denzel-ward/6889/

 

[ballpeen]

19 hours ago, bjh2130 said:

This is a big part people are overlooking. Jalen ramsey was extended in 2020 when the cap was going down and got 100 million. Ward got 500k more and the cap is expected to go way up in the next two years.  Corners will be getting 120 for 5 years in the next two years and if you look at it that way this is not a bad deal at all. Someone earlier asked how the browns were going to pay people with all this money flying around and the answer is simply watch the salary cap grow

It's been that way forever.  Every new contract is aimed at the last best contract. Just a stepping stone process.

[Canton Dawg]