Did Jerome Ford Receive a Pay Raise, or a Pay Cut?

It's been widely reported that Jerome Ford has accepted a pay cut to remain with the Cleveland Browns. Reports claim that Ford was due to receive $3.486 million in 2025 but instead accepted $1.75 million.  Overthecap.com lists a signing bonus of $80,537, which according to my pocket calculator makes his 2025 cap number $1.83 million.  Get it right, folks. 

Ford was a fifth round draft pick in the fourth year of a four year, $3,982,148 deal. Overthecap says that he has been paid $322,148 in bonus money, plus three years of salary amounting to $2,560,000, leaving a total of $1,100,000 remaining for year four of his rookie contract. 

  

That was his 2025 salary, not $3.486 million. Thus the new number is $730,000 HIGHER than what he was scheduled to get, not lower. Probably the pay raise was meant to reassure him that he is not being cast aside in favor of glamor rookies Quinshon Judkins from Ohio State, and SEC Offensive Player of the Year Dylan Sampson from Tennessee, and to reward him for playing way beyond expectations for a fifth round pick.  

The most stupid narrative of this off-season is that Jerome was sitting on $3.486 million dollars somehow, and he decides to take a voluntary pay cut because he was afraid of becoming a free agent, and so he he steals Nick Chubb's spot on the roster. Oh puh-lease!

If Jerome is cut from the Cleveland Browns he will be richly rewarded. HE WILL NOT BE UNEMPLOYED BY 32 NFL TEAMS.  Why would Jerome want to take a pay cut to be the second or third string running back in Cleveland? If he gets cut by Cleveland, he will be immediately picked up by another team   "Go ahead, release me. Make me rich!"

So what is the source of the $3.486 million that Ford supposedly was going to get in 2025?  Just as a guess, it might be his agent's fantasy.  Ford might well be worth that much as a free agent, but the Browns are so not going to cut him. A trade is not out of the question on the grounds that the Browns actually have depth; however the Ravens are always four and five deep at the position and it has not hurt them a bit. 

No, something probably got garbled here, as is often the case in Cleveland. All the signs point to Jerome Ford being a valued member of the team, and if Nick Chubb is not re-signed it is because they do not trust his knee, not because of Ford or his contract.