Cleveland Brown's Clever Use of NFL Contract Poison Pills
The Cleveland Browns have an interesting salary-cap situation approaching in the 2026 offseason. How they manage it will be something I plan to monitor in the coming weeks.
Hey everyone, TC here. Thank you for your continued support with the Cap & Trade Newsletter. With the team winning the Super Bowl, we are now officially in the NFL offseason.
The Cleveland Browns have three veteran player contracts structured to facilitate Post-June 1 designation releases. The problem is that an NFL team can use only two designations in a league year.
The team inserted “poison pill” type salary vesting schedules into the player contracts to ensure a release is completed by a specific date. You could view this as similar to a contract void date. Both the team and the player have a specific deadline date known.
To be clear, I am using the term “poison pill” to give the team a clear date to force a contract decision. Not to be confused with the old-fashioned “poison pill” used in NFL contracts to keep another team from matching the terms.
The team has work to complete to be salary cap compliant by the start of the new league year on March 11, 2026. Overthecap currently projects the Browns to have $3.21 million in available cap space for the 2026 season.
The team will complete restructures with Deshaun Watson and Denzel Ward to create over $48 million in new cap space. This will give the league’s heaviest cash-spending organization plenty of salary-cap operating space to do virtually whatever they choose in roster building.
Wyatt Teller ended the 2025 season on Reserve/Injured after a calf injury. Prior to the injury, Teller was in a playtime rotation within the interior offensive line group while working through the injury before ultimately landing on reserve. Teller, who turned 31 in November, has seen his performance trend downward over the 2024 and 2025 seasons.
In the salary cap table above, Teller is listed with void years in 2026 through 2029. This was done to ensure Teller would be listed as a free agent for 2026. The contract, technically, does not have a scheduled contract void until mid-February in 2029.
The two sides completed a contract renegotiation on August 27, 2025, to structure the contract for a 2026 release with a Post-June 1 designation.
Teller’s base (P5) salaries are as follows:
2026 - $2.1 million (non-GTD)
2027 - $1.345 million (non-GTD)
2028 - $99.0 million (vesting GTD)
2029 - $1.435 million (non-GTD)
A “poison pill” type of vesting guarantee was inserted into the contract. If Teller is on the 90-man roster on the 3rd day of the 2026 league year (March 13th at 4 pm EST), then Teller’s $99.0 million salary in 2028 would become fully guaranteed.
Obviously, the Browns did not intend to allow Teller’s 2028 $99 million salary to become fully guaranteed. The team will need to release Teller by March 13th to avoid the vesting.
Two Options:
The team could use the Post-June 1 designation to divert $11.11 million forward to the 2027 league year, leaving $10.39 million on the 2026 salary cap until June 2nd, when the player cap charge would be lowered to $8.29 million.
If the team does not use the Post-June 1 designation, the Browns would incur a $19.40 million dead money charge at the time of release.
On March 12, 2025, the Browns and Conklin completed a contract renegotiation that added a 2029 void year, along with similar “poison pill” vesting guarantees for future salaries, similar to those in the Wyatt Teller contract.
Conklin’s base (P5) salaries are as follows:
2026 - $1.3 million (non-GTD)
2027 - $1.345 million (non-GTD)
2028 - $75.0 million (vesting GTD)
2029 - $1.435 million (non-GTD)
The contract language follows the same timeline as Teller, with vesting for the $75 million salary set for March 13, 2026. The team will have the same two options for Conklin:
Release Conklin between March 11th and March 13th with a Post-June 1 designation. This will set the team's initial salary cap hold at $5.561 million until June 2nd, when the dead money charge will be reduced to $4.261 million. This would push $8.151 million forward to the 2027 league year as salary cap dead money.
Release Conklin without the designation and incur a $12.412 million dead money for the 2026 league year, and $0 in 2027.
Given Conklin’s age and injury history, a player release will be the path forward for both sides.
David Njoku and the Browns completed a contract renegotiation on October 15, 2026, when the contract was structured just like Wyatt Teller's and Jack Conklin’s.
Njoku’s base (P5) salaries are as follows:
2026 - $1.3 million (non-GTD)
2027 - $1.345 million (non-GTD)
2028 - $75.0 million (vesting GTD)
2029 - $1.435 million (non-GTD)
Njoku’s 2028 salary is scheduled to vest to a full guarantee on March 13, 2026. With Njoku as a more viable free agent, the two sides could work towards a contract extension to keep Njoku in Cleveland for the future.
If the two sides are unable to come to an agreement, the Browns will need to release Njoku before the March 13th 4 pm EST deadline to avoid the $75 million guarantee.
If released with the Post-June 1 designation, the Browns will carry a $10.83 million salary cap charge until June 2nd, when it will be lowered to $9.53 million as dead money. This will push the remaining $7.24 million forward to the 2027 league year as dead money.
If the team opts against the designation, a release would result in the Browns incurring a $24.33 million dead-money charge for the 2026 league year salary cap.
Post-June 1 Salary Cap Treatment Explained
For additional information and context on Post-June 1 salary cap treatment, check out this episode of my NFL Salary Cap Explained series.
Flexibility
The Browns’ use of this structure gives the team salary-cap flexibility. Instead of relying on contract void dates in the offseason, the team can now decide where to deploy the Post-June 1 designation and where they can work towards a contract extension.
If all three players are released, the logical path would be to use the Post-June 1 designation for Wyatt Teller and David Njoku and complete a standard release for Jack Conklin.
Thanks for reading!
-TC
Great stuff, as always, Troy!