If you thought the Cleveland Browns were busy in the 2018 offseason, just wait until 2019.
A year after general manager John Dorsey went wheeling and dealing to land big names like Tyrod Taylor, Jarvis Landry and Damarious Randall, the Browns enter the upcoming offseason with the most unused salary cap space in the NFL, as the NFL Players Association announced Thursday, carrying over $56.5 million from 2018.
The league's current collective bargaining agreement with the NFLPA allows each team to transfer unused cap space from the previous year into the next season, and Cleveland opted to bring more than any other franchise into 2019. The next closest total belongs to the Indianapolis Colts, who will bring $49.1 million over from 2018.
The CBA allows teams to carry over unused salary cap space from the previous year. Below are the amounts that each team chose to carry into the 2019 season. pic.twitter.com/Uvf4rA2TMS
— NFLPA (@NFLPA) January 31, 2019
The feat bodes well for Browns fans hoping for another busy free agency. With Freddie Kitchens installed as the team's permanent head coach and Baker Mayfield entrenched as the long-term quarterback, Dorsey figures to be proactive in ramping up the roster after a 7-8-1 season under two other coaches -- the ousted Hue Jackson and since-replaced interim Gregg Williams. According to Spotrac's 2019 salary cap tracker, Cleveland should be among the top three teams in the NFL in terms of total cap space available.
Other teams, besides the Colts, with significant carryovers from 2018 into 2019: The San Francisco 49ers ($35 million), Tennessee Titans ($25.6 million), Houston Texans ($18.8 million) and Pittsburgh Steelers ($18.2 million).
Among the teams with the least carryover from 2018 are the NFC champion Los Angeles Rams ($466,000), the AFC runner-up Kansas City Chiefs ($715,000), the Los Angeles Chargers ($1 million) and Atlanta Falcons ($1.1 million).
