Browns Releasing TE Austin Hooper As June 1 Cut

According to Jeremy Fowler, the Browns are releasing TE Austin Hooper as a June 1 cut. 

The writing was on the wall when Cleveland tagged David Njoku, as that gave them two tight ends making over eight figures. 

A June 1 cut means Hooper will hit the market immediately but the Browns get to spread his dead money over two seasons instead of one. The cap savings will kick in on the actual June 1 date. 

According to Over The Cap, cutting Hooper with a June 1 designation creates $9.5 million in cap space with $3.75 million in dead money. A standard release would have been just $2 million in savings. 

Hooper, 27, was drafted in the third round by the Falcons out of Stanford in 2016. He played out the final year of a four-year, $3.165 million rookie contract and made a base salary of $720,000 for the 2019 season. 

Hooper was testing the market as an unrestricted free agent when he signed a four-year, $42 million deal with the Browns. He was set to make a base salary of $9.5 million in the final two years of the deal. 

In 2021, Hooper appeared in 16 games and caught 38 passes on 61 targets for 345 yards receiving and three touchdowns.