The Cleveland Browns successfully restructured DE Myles Garrett's contract to clear almost $13 million in cap space for the 2023 season, per Field Yates. The Browns now have upwards of $33 million in cap space for this season, which is the most in the NFL.

The purpose of this move likely isn't to make room for a big free agent signing or trade to bolster this year's roster. Rather, it will help the team with future salary caps that the Browns currently project to exceed. Contract restructures are a common practice for big contracts like Garrett's. The Browns essentially converted Garrett's base salary into bonuses, but it still counts against the cap at a later date.

The NFL salary cap projects to increase year-after-year. The rules also allow teams to roll their unused cap space in the current season over into a future season's salary cap. By creating cap space in the short run, Cleveland created more cap space in the future. That will be important for several reasons as Cleveland works to get under the 2024 cap with big contracts looming.

The biggest cap management obstacle for the Browns is Deshaun Watson's massive fully-guaranteed deal. The cap hit on that contract increases progressively over the length of the deal. Cleveland already restructured Watson's deal this offseason, and they will have to do so again in the future.

Next year, the Browns project to be way over the cap because of Watson's and Garrett's contracts. They also have to start paying Denzel Ward's $100 million extension. Restructuring big contracts now helps them prepare for next offseason's attempt to get under the cap, when the Browns will likely have to do the same thing.

But they still have to count the massive cap hits at some point, right? Doesn't pushing the payouts back further just make them bigger in the long run? Yes, but the constantly-increasing NFL salary cap makes this possible if the Browns can push the cap hits back enough. Contracts that are too expensive to field now end up assuming a small enough percentage of a future salary cap.

Getting under the 2024 NFL salary cap is going to take some impressive money management from the front office, but that's what NFL GMs do.

Myles Garrett is still one of the best players in the entire NFL. He had 16 sacks and two forced fumbles in 2022. Garrett has the second-highest odds to win the NFL Defensive Player of the Year award in 2023.