The Browns released two of the most respected veteran leaders on their roster and added to their surplus of salary-cap space Tuesday when they terminated the contracts of quarterback Josh McCown and defensive back Tramon Williams.
Each player had one year left on his contract, but neither cut should come as a surprise. Their careers are winding down, and they entered last season as backups for the 1-15 Browns.
The moves created $11.3 million of cap room and left $1.16 million in dead money. The Browns are projected to enter the new NFL year on March 9 armed with more than $105 million in cap space, most in the league.
McCown, 37, was due a roster bonus of $750,000 on March 11 and scheduled to make $3.625 million next season. He signed a three-year, $14 million contract with the Browns as a free agent in 2015 and entered that season as the starter ahead of Johnny Manziel.
McCown, who has 14 NFL seasons on his resume, finished his Browns career with a record of 1-10 as a starter. He went 1-7 in 2015 and 0-3 in 2016, when he backed up Robert Griffin III.
McCown endured several injuries the past two seasons, including two broken collarbones. Yet McCown said Dec. 29 he planned to continue his playing career during the 2017 season, and his release from the Browns hasn’t changed his mind.
“He definitely wants to play next year,” McCown’s agent, Mike McCartney, wrote Tuesday night in an email to the Beacon Journal.
Whenever McCown is done playing, he might pursue a coaching career. He has said he’s considered becoming a coach one day, and Browns coach Hue Jackson has said he’d add McCown to his staff.
Williams, 33, was due a roster bonus of $1 million on March 11 and set to make $5.7 million next season. He joined the Browns as an unrestricted free agent in 2015, when he signed a three-year, $21 million deal.
Williams lost his starting cornerback job to trade acquisition Jamar Taylor in training camp. Williams then served as a nickel corner and later, because of injuries, a safety for the first time in his 10 NFL seasons.
Williams started 22 of the 27 games in which he appeared with the Browns. Last season, he started five games at cornerback and two at safety and had 36 tackles, five passes defensed and one interception.
“He was OK with the release,” Williams’ agent, Rodney Williams, said Tuesday night by phone. “He thought it was best for everybody.
“He feels as though he has a lot of football left in him. He views himself as a football player. If they need him to play corner, he’ll play corner. If he they need him to play safety, he’ll play safety.”
Cutting McCown and Williams leaves the Browns with more than enough money to use their franchise tag on impending free-agent wide receiver Terrelle Pryor. The organization would rather secure Pryor with a long-term contract like it did last month with linebacker Jamie Collins. But should the two sides fail to reach an agreement, the Browns could keep Pryor off the open market by franchising him at a projected cost of $15.8 million.
Releasing McCown and Williams also raises the following question: Who’s next?
Griffin is due a roster bonus of $750,000 on March 11 coming off a season in which he went 1-4 as a starter and missed 11 games with a fractured left shoulder.
So it wouldn’t be the least bit surprising if the Browns parted with Griffin, too, even though Jackson said Jan. 24 at the Senior Bowl it was premature to say the team would move on from the quarterback.
Jackson has repeatedly made it clear he’s on a mission to deliver a winning quarterback to the Browns this offseason.
Whether they trade for New England Patriots backup Jimmy Garoppolo, sign another quarterback or draft a top-rated college prospect like Clemson’s Deshaun Watson, North Carolina’s Mitch Trubisky or Notre Dame’s DeShone Kizer remains to be seen, but the Browns won’t stand pat at the game’s most important position as 2017 unfolds.
Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Browns blog at www.ohio.com/browns. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/NateUlrichABJ and on Facebook www.facebook.com/abj.sports.