The Browns are heading into 2026 with one of the cheapest offenses in the NFL, and the numbers tell a pretty clear story about where this roster stands.
According to Warren Sharp of Sharp Analysis, Cleveland ranks 28th in offensive spending at roughly $124 million for the season. Only the Giants, Ravens, Jets and Dolphins are projected to spend less on offense. Four of those five teams, including Cleveland, are also set to have new head coaches.
The bigger wrinkle is how that money is actually distributed. A huge chunk of the Browns’ offensive spending is tied to one player: Deshaun Watson. His cap figure for 2026 sits at almost $41 million, which is the seventh-highest individual cap hit in the league for an active player, per Spotrac.
That number looks even heavier when stacked against the names ahead of him - Matthew Stafford ($48.266 million), Justin Herbert ($46.345 million), Chris Jones ($44.85 million), Dak Prescott ($44.59 million), Josh Allen ($44.228 million) and T.J. Watt ($42 million) - because those players have all been on the field and playing meaningful football over the last two and a half years. Watson’s last game came in October of 2024, before he twice tore his Achilles’.
If Watson’s cap hit is removed, Cleveland’s offense drops to around $82 million. At that point, wide receiver Jerry Jeudy becomes the top offensive cap number at $10.3 million for this year, and no other offensive player is above a $6 million cap hit for 2026.
That breakdown points to two things. The first is that the Browns’ offensive core is built around young players still on rookie contracts, including Harold Fannin Jr. and Quinshon Judkins, plus rookies Spencer Fano, KC Concepcion and Denzel Boston. It also includes mid-level veterans on deals well below the top of the market, such as Tytus Howard, Elgton Jenkins and Zion Johnson.
The second is that Cleveland may already be close to a financial reset on offense. Watson’s future with the team looks shaky at best, especially with two first-round picks in hand. Even though restructures and void years mean his contract will linger on the books for a while, the Watson era appears to have an endpoint.
Jeudy’s situation is a little different. He arrived in Cleveland through a trade that cost the Browns a fifth- and sixth-round pick in 2024, then earned a surprise Pro Bowl nod that same year. Last season, though, he had his worst pro campaign, finishing with 50 catches for 602 yards and two touchdowns while tying for second-most dropped passes in the league.
He remains under contract through 2027, but a June 1 designation next offseason would create $4.6 million in cap savings and spread his $25.4 million cap hit over two years. With Concepcion and Boston both taken among the first 40 picks in last April’s draft, the Browns are already leaning toward the future at receiver.
Still, Jeudy and Watson are not the same kind of case. A strong year from Jeudy could give Cleveland a reason to keep him. Watson’s path looks much narrower.
And so far, he hasn’t helped himself. Watson opened training camp with a rough day that included back-to-back interceptions, then added another pick today. Even though he has said he’s the healthiest he’s been in years, he still hasn’t separated from last year’s fifth-round pick Shedeur Sanders, which is a tough look for a 30-year-old quarterback who once signed the largest guaranteed contract in NFL history.
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