The waiver period for claiming the contract of former Browns receiver Kenny Britt expires on Monday at 4:00 p.m. If no one claims his contract, which carries a prorated base salary of $4 million for the rest of the year ($235,529 per week), Britt will become a free agent.
And if he clears waivers, Britt will be free to sign with any other team.
The question becomes whether he will, and if so when. Per a source with knowledge of the situation, Britt hopes to sign with a playoff contender, if he clears waivers.
The Browns surely would like for him to be claimed, since it would take them off the hook for the balance of his salary. If he clears waivers, he can collect the balance of his pay from the Browns as termination pay and pocket whatever he gets elsewhere.
Britt had a disappointing season in Cleveland, and the Browns were certain to cut him before his $6.5 million salary for 2018 became fully guaranteed in March. But he (somehow) had more than 1,000 receiving yards for a listless Rams offense in 2016, which could prompt someone to take a chance on him, especially if the injury bug bites a contending team this weekend.
One team to watch would be the Patriots, given the affinity of coach Bill Belichick for former Rutgers players -- if former Rutgers coach Greg Schiano vouches for Britt. But it won’t be easy for Britt to make an instant impact with any new team at this point, given how hard it is for skill-position players to stroll in to a new locker room at this stage of the season and figure out how to do what everyone else has been doing for months.
Still, even if Britt spends the rest of the regular season figuring out the playbook and the coaching staff and his quarterbacks, an opportunity to play in January could undo a lot of the damage that was done to his market value during a failed excursion to Cleveland.