John Johnson III expected to be released by Browns to create cap space

On Feb 28, 2023

Cleveland Browns safety John Johnson III tackles New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara (41) during the first half of an NFL football game, Saturday, Dec. 24, 2022, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/David Richard)

INDIANAPOLIS — The one player who was always expected to be a potential cap casualty for the Browns is going to be one by March 15. Now, the question is what other moves await to help them free up enough space in order to improve the roster this offseason.

General manager Andrew Berry confirmed at the NFL Scouting Combine on Tuesday that safety John Johnson III is going to be released once the league year begins on March 15. The safety will likely be given a post-June 1 designation on his release, which would help the Browns save $9.75 million on the cap.

“I’ll start by saying John really the first probably thought is just gratitude in terms of what he’s done the past two years on the field and in the locker room for us,” Berry said. “We did, after just looking at the roster and thinking about where we want to be in 2023, thought it would be the best move for the organization to really part ways. But that certainly doesn’t minimize what John was able to do while he was with our team.”

There remains another possibility that Johnson could also be traded. However, the likelihood of that occurring may be slim with other teams aware of the team’s plans to let him go.

Johnson was owed $9.75 million on the final year of his contract, although that money was not guaranteed. He carried a $13.5 million cap hit, which is why he was always seen as the No. 1 candidate to get released in order to open up some room for the Browns under the cap.

The Browns had previously restructured receiver/return specialist Jakeem Grant’s contract last week, creating $1.765 million in relief after it had originally been scheduled to be $3.56 million. However, there’s an even bigger restructuring in the near future that Berry hinted at that needs to be done in order to make a real impact.

Quarterback Deshaun Watson’s deal jumps up to a $54,993,000 this season. It has been long assumed a restructuring of his original five-year, $230-million contract was forthcoming, and Berry seemed to indicate Tuesday it was coming sooner rather than later.

“It could be on the table, but there’s a lot of flexibility in terms of what we can do from a cap perspective,” Berry said.

Berry also didn’t close the door on other decision made on veterans in terms of being cap casualties. The Browns currently have eight players making at least $12,215,118 against the cap, and another three at $6,269,109.

The most likely outcome, though, would be for some of those other contracts to be restructured.

“We look at two different factors — the cash we want to spend and the cap is really an account mechanism for that,” Berry said. “The rules are flexible, whether it’s releasing a player, trading a player, restructuring a deal, negotiating an extension. There are a number of different avenues to create cap space. The approach we would take would really be dictated by the opportunities in front of us.”

The Browns have been trying to open up cap space knowing there was a need to reshape the defense in particular. They’ve always been targeted as a team that was expected to be active when the free-agent market opens in mid-March trying to bring in help at all three levels of the defense.

Johnson’s impending release makes the safety position an even higher priority. At the top of the target list includes Cincinnati Bengals safety Jessie Bates III, barring the Bengals signing him to an extension or applying the franchise tag to him again.

“All of that really is to be determined,” Berry said. “It’s a long offseason that really doesn’t begin until the middle of March. As we always do, we’ll stay flexible, stay adaptable and try to map our resources to opportunities.”

Johnson was the big free-agent splash signing when the league year opened in March 2021 after having spent his first four years in the league with the Los Angeles Rams. He initially signed a three-year, $33.75 million deal with the Browns.