Previous Position Room
We will start by looking at how Andrew Berry's position room has been built to start the season each year:
2020 - Bitonio, Teller
2021 - Bitonio, Teller, Dunn, Hance
2022 - Bitonio, Teller, Dunn, Froholdt
2023 - Bitonio, Teller
2024 - Bitonio, Teller, Zinter, Cohen
2025 - Bitonio, Teller, Jenkins, Zinter
2026 - Johnson, Jenkins, Zinter
Cash Spending Per Year
Here is the cash they have spend on the position room and the % of the salary cap:
2020 - $19,774,648 (9.98%)
2021 - $35,336,269 (17.39%)
2022 - $23,929,260 (11.49%)
2023 - $31,439,972 (13.99%)
2024 - $38,700,720 (15.15%)
2025 - $40,935,670 (14.66%)
2026 - $38,701,516 (12.85%)
Current Contracts
This looks at the cash in each players contracts and the amount of guarantees they have in their deals:
Zion Johnson
2026 - $18,825,000 (fully guaranteed)
2027 - $14,175,000 ($13,565,000 guaranteed)
2028 - $16,500,000 (no guarantees)
Teven Jenkins
2026 - $4,000,000 (fully guaranteed)
Zak Zinter
2026 - $1,316,340 (no guarantees)
2027 - $1,577,010 (no guarantees)
Free Agency
Here is a look at the list of current unrestricted free agents sorted by the amount of snaps they have played so far this season:
The Draft
This chart shows the ages of the draft class at the time of the draft. Greens signifies the age of 66% of the prospects they have drafted in this range, yellow 33% and red is an age they have never taken in this range. So while it is unlikely they select a red player, it isn't impossible.
OBR VIP's can see my full October draft board with each position on it here.
Conclusion
I was skeptical when they signed Zion Johnson to a $16.5m a year deal, while you always overpay for early free agency moves, it felt like a significant overpay. He hadn't produced enough in his first four years to be the 16th highest paid guard in the league. But had remained healthy playing over 1,000 snaps each season and was an incredibly athletic player. It feels like they have started to unlock his talent as the season goes along. I expect him to be here in 2027 and if performances remain strong then much longer term. He is turning 27 next month so he could be a two contract player in Cleveland.
Austin Barber made the 53 man roster as a tackle this season. Due to injury he got the chance to push inside to guard and hasn't looked back since. There have been better and worse games but that is to be expected from any rookie. Overall the performances have been strong and he should keep improving. I expect him to remain as a guard long term. They appear to be settled along the majority of the line, so why make a second year player learn to reposition, rather than keep focusing on improving,
Teven Jenkins is an incredibly talented player, arguably a top 16 guard in the NFL. The issue is injuries have derailed his entire career. There were questions of would he break $15m a year as a guard when leaving the Bears but the medical must have spooked teams to only get $3m and from Cleveland with two veteran starters ahead of him. He is now six weeks on the injury list, if the team knew he was out that long he would have gone to IR. So signs point to a much slower than expected return. It is a shame as he could be one of the best depth pieces in the league still but availability is the best ability. It wouldn't shock me to see him moved on from during or after the season. Unless he signs again but on a veteran minimum deal this time, battling to make the roster next season.
The expectation was for Zak Zinter was for him to be waived during the cut to 53 players. Monken spoke about being impressed by his play in camp to keep him around. I'm not sure it will be enough to keep him on the roster but he will likely get the chance to compete at camp next year.
I believe they will look to draft someone on day three. While you don't expect to see that play in 2027, you can start developing someone for the future. It is better to use the depth to see if someone can play for the future and build into a position of more strength. If the rookie turns out to be good, it gives you the option to move on if Johnson struggles for some reason in 2027 or they want to move Barber to right tackle for the 2028 season and move on from Howard. Options for the roster or good depth are both beneficial. If the rookie struggles in 2027 during practice, they can always add someone else the year after in the draft to keep searching for depth.
While Jenkins and Zinter might return for training camp in 2027, I would be looking at adding a cheap veteran free agent who can give them injury cover as well as adding a UDFA. This way five players can compete for the one or two depth spots on the roster behind the starters. Andrew Berry has always pushed for extra options so that you can make the best decisions possible for the final 53 as well as having some injury cover.
Final 53
Zion Johnson
Austin Barber
Cheap Veteran Free Agent
Day Three Draft Pick