How much does the Browns’ new quarterback for 2025 count against the cap?
One would think that the Cleveland Browns still have a few moves they need to make in free agency, including at the quarterback position. With that said, they already made one move at the position, and that was when they acquired QB Kenny Pickett from the Philadelphia Eagles.
The Browns did not give Pickett a new contract. He is still on his rookie deal from when he was a first-round pick in 2022 by the Pittsburgh Steelers. Therefore, let’s look at the final year of that contract, which now belongs to the Browns:
- It’s as straightforward as you can get: Pickett’s base salary is $2.623 million and fully guaranteed, so that is what his cap hit is.
- All rookies have signing bonuses that are pro-rated over the span of four years, so what happened to that? When the Steelers traded him to the Eagles in 2024, the signing bonuses left for the final two years of his deal accelerated and became dead cap for Pittsburgh last year. Therefore, there’s nothing for the Browns to worry about, and it makes Pickett a cheaper reclamation project.
- Do the Browns save any money with the acquisition of Pickett? It’s hard to answer that question, because it depends on a variety of factors. First, you have to remove Deshaun Watson from the picture entirely, and put him off to the side. In this trade, Dorian Thompson-Robinson was traded to the Eagles, and he had a base salary of $1.030 million. The Browns are eating his signing bonus in dead cap worth $171,134 in 2025.
- When you put it like that, Pickett than adds $1.764 million to the cap than DTR would have accounted for. It became pretty apparent that DTR did not look like an NFL-caliber quarterback for regular season action with his arm. Pickett, a former first-round pick, was very pedestrian in two years with Pittsburgh. As a backup to Philly last year, he showed a little more in very limited action. It’s not a bad gamble to see if Kevin Stefanski, who has gotten a lot out of guys like Jacoby Brissett and Joe Flacco, can work some magic with Pickett. If Pickett is a backup, he comes as a reasonable, cheap option for the 2025 campaign. If he is Plan A as the starter? Ehhhhh, that’s going to take an “out of no where” stunner like Sam Darnold’s 2024 season with the Vikings to win the fanbase over, but stranger things have happened.