Browns are eating Brock Osweiler’s salary because they can, and it makes sense

The Cleveland Browns have a lot of money to work with and they found a creative way to use it to purchase a high draft pick. On Thursday, the Browns traded away a 2017 fourth-round pick to the Houston Texans to acquire a second-round pick in 2018 and a sixth-round pick in 2017 so long as they do the Texans the favor of eating the contract of Brock Osweiler.

It’s a bad contract that was bogging down a Texans roster that is otherwise ready to compete for a Super Bowl. Due to count $19 million against the salary cap in 2017, the Texans couldn’t release Osweiler or else the cap hit would swell to $25 million.

Just having Osweiler was a disaster for the Texans, a team that consequently had limited options to upgrade at the position.

The Browns don’t have that problem.

With over $100 million in cap space entering Thursday, the Browns don’t have any qualms with eating Osweiler’s big salary, especially when his contract is easy to part with after the 2017 season.

He’s likely not an upgrade for the Browns and may never even play much for the team. It really doesn’t matter. Cleveland used its ample space under the salary cap to purchase a bad contract and a second-round pick.

When Hue Jackson and Sashi Brown started a new regime in Cleveland, it was a long-term rebuilding effort that was designed around building through the draft. The Browns own five of the first 65 picks in the 2017 NFL Draft, including the first overall selection.

With so many early draft selections this year and the next, the Browns also have leverage to make big moves for players they may perceive as building blocks to work with:

Cleveland isn’t winning the Super Bowl next year and they know it. So eating Osweiler’s salary for one season to get another high-value draft pick is perfectly logical.

Osweiler, 26, was a disappointment for the Texans. His huge potential made him a second-round pick for the Denver Broncos and his play in limited time convinced Houston to give him a four-year, $72 million deal.

With an expensive offensive line in front of him, maybe Osweiler can improve his play and give the Browns an improvement at quarterback. But even if he doesn’t, Cleveland’s deal for the quarterback is a continuation of the team’s commitment to building for the future.