Getty Cornerback Greg Newsome II of the Cleveland Browns.
The Cleveland Browns don’t just need to worry about adding talent this offseason, they also need to figure out how to keep all the quality players already on the roster.
One such player is former first-round pick Greg Newsome II. The cornerback will play on the fourth and final year of his $13 million rookie contract in 2024. However, the Browns can exercise his fifth-year option, which would keep Newsome locked in through 2025.
Over The Cap projects that decision will cost the Browns $12.17 million for the 2025 campaign alone. That isn’t a massive number as far as NFL salaries go, but it is more strenuous for Cleveland given the team’s salary cap situation over the next several years.
Jacob Roach of USA Today’s Browns Wire predicted that the team will exercise that option, despite its failure to represent an ideal financial situation.
“When talking about picking up his fifth-year option, you have to ask yourself if you want to extend him long-term. … Newsome isn’t an awful player, but he isn’t a player you want to pay more than $10 million per year,” Roach wrote on Monday, February 5. “In the end, the Browns will pick up his fifth-year option because you can never have enough corners, and he is still a good player even if he has not hit his highest level.”
Cleveland has until May 2 to make the decision on Newsome’s option.
Greg Newsome Had Career Year for Browns in 2023
GettyCornerback Greg Newsome II of the Cleveland Browns.
Newsome had a solid year in 2023, posting career-highs in tackles (49), pass breakups (14), tackles for loss (4), interceptions (2) and defensive touchdowns (1).
He allowed opposing quarterbacks a collective completion percentage of 56.7% and a collective rating of 74.8 across 67 targets in coverage, per Pro Football Reference. Both of those figures were also career-bests.
Pro Football Focus rated Newsome the 56th best cornerback out of 127 players who saw enough snaps to qualify at the position. Newsome’s rush defense was his greatest liability, per the website’s advanced analytics formulas.
Newsome appeared in 14 of 17 regular-season games for the Browns last season, earning 13 starts. The defense finished No. 1 in total yardage surrendered in 2023.
Browns Face Tough Financial Realities Over Next Several Years
GettyQuarterback Deshaun Watson of the Cleveland Browns.
For the next few offseasons, every discussion about extensions or free agency in Cleveland is going to boil down to salary cap space.
The Browns are currently $20.6 million in the red in regards to the 2024 cap sheet, though the team is going to roll over roughly $30 million from 2023. Even still, Deshaun Watson’s cap hit is set to spike to $64 million this season and remain there through the life of his contract, which ends in 2026. The team is also dead set on keeping wide receiver Amari Cooper following the fifth Pro-Bowl campaign of his career, which means another $24 million in space spoken for next season.
Cleveland can rework Watson’s deal and push money off into the future in the form of a dead cap hit, though general manager Andrew Berry told Zack Jackson of The Athletic on February 1 that clearing up to $33 million in room by restructuring Watson’s deal isn’t necessarily the plan moving forward.
“I’ll be honest, I’m not there yet,” Berry told Jackson. “It’s not a necessity (to lower that), but it just kind of depends on how we put the plan together.”
However the Browns choose to proceed, good players like Newsome and running back Nick Chubb may need to take less money in the future or face a cut or trade scenario.