Browns must ask tough question of Jarvis Landry

With his future on the team up in the air, the Cleveland Browns have a tough question in front of them with Jarvis Landry.

This past week, Cleveland Browns wide receiver Jarvis Landry garnered some attention with a Twitter thread led by how he played through multiple injuries during the 2021 season. His production reflected being banged up and limited, as he finished with career-lows in catches (52) and yards (570) in 12 games.

Landry also said how he’d like to stay with the team next season, with an eye on being healthier in the final year of his contract, and he has “put the ball in (the team’s) court” there. For what it’s worth, ESPN’s Jake Trotter has written it “feels like” Landry is done in Cleveland.

Landry has a solid career resume, with five Pro Bowl selections (consecutively from 2015-2019), two seasons with 110 or more catches (2015 and 2017) and three seasons (2015, 2016 and 2019) with more than 1,100 yards.

The Browns have a tough question to ask of Jarvis Landry

As mentioned, Landry is heading to the final season of a five-year, $75.5 million deal. According to Over The Cap, he’s set to carry a salary cap hit close to $16.4 million for 2022. Per Spotrac, that is a top-12 cap hit among all wide receivers in the NFL and the second-highest cap hit on the team.

The Browns have a projected $27.59 million in cap space right now, so they aren’t hurting there. But if some is good, more is better and cutting Landry outright would clear just shy of $14.9 million in cap space with the remainder of his cap hit ($1.5 million) left behind in dead money.

Cleveland will certainly be somewhere in the market for wide receivers this offseason, in free agency or trades as well as the draft. Landry’s status will not impact that activity, and it’s worth noting Rashard Higgins is a free agent. Overall, they have plenty of questions at wide receiver and keeping Landry as a reliable veteran presence is probably somewhere on the radar.

But that upper echelon of wide receivers cap hit, north of $16 million, is a no-go for Cleveland as Landry heads into his age-30 season. He’ll have to take a pay cut to stay, via an outright pay cut or agreement on a contract extension that tacks on a year or two to reduce that cap hit.

As they approach Landry with the question about a pay cut, the Browns hold the leverage card of being able to simply release him and clear a big chunk of cap space.