The Browns had four obvious candidates for an extension this offseason in quarterback Baker Mayfield, cornerback Denzel Ward, running back Nick Chubb, and guard Wyatt Teller.
Cleveland has already taken care of Chubb, signing him to a three-year extension early on in training camp. Mayfield’s deal may be getting closer with Buffalo’s Josh Allen recently agreeing to his lucrative six-year extension.
But both Mayfield and Ward are under contract through 2022, with Cleveland exercising the fifth-year option on both former first-round picks.
As for Teller, the 2020 second-team All-Pro’s rookie contract will expire after 2021. He was asked in his Wednesday press conference about potentially signing a new deal with the Browns, and didn’t sound like anything was imminent.
“I love Cleveland. I love the fans, I love the city,” Teller said. “I know as much as you guys know. [The Browns] work with my agent and everything like that. He kind of leaves me out of it because it’s like, hey look — obviously once stuff happens, it’s happening fast. Right now, the best thing I can do is focus on football. The better I do, the better the guys around me do, the better they do, the better the team does. And the better the team does, we all get paid.”
But as much as Teller enjoys playing with Cleveland, he realizes the NFL is a business and wants to make sure he’s maximizing his value. He said he loves head coach Kevin Stefanski, G.M. Andrew Berry, and his teammates. But, that’s not all there is in football.
“I want to make the most that I can, right? Because we make this money for a short amount of time and 80 percent of the league is bankrupt after five years,” Teller said. “So do it smart, get what you deserve, get what you earn, and the rest can go down as history.”
Teller has been with the Browns for two seasons, arriving via trade from Buffalo toward the end of 2019 training camp. He was elevated to Cleveland’s starting right guard in the middle of that season and has been a key part of the team’s strong run game ever since.