Browns sign right guard Wyatt Teller to blockbuster contract extension

Wyatt Teller is not the odd man out after all.

For those who thought Teller would hit free agency next year because Browns General Manager Andrew Berry cannot possibly afford to keep all of the franchise's good, young players, think again.

A standout right guard, Teller signed a four-year, $56.8 million contract extension, which includes $28 million guaranteed, a person familiar with the deal confirmed Tuesday morning. The Browns announced the move later in the day.

Teller, 26, had been scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent in March, but the new deal means the offensive lineman known for doling out punishing blocks in the running game is under contract with the Browns through the 2025 season.

With $14.2 million per year in new money, Teller has the third-highest average annual salary among all NFL guards, according to spotrac.com. Franchised-tagged right guard Brandon Scherff of the Washington Football Team leads the group at $18.036 million, and left guard Joe Thuney of the Kansas City Chiefs is second at $16 million.

Before the 2021 season began, Teller publicly acknowledged the Browns might not be able to keep him.

"I wanted to be as candid as possible," Teller said Tuesday afternoon on Zoom. "There is a business and a personal side, and you can't get too caught up on either.

"I couldn't love my team more. I couldn't love my coaches, I couldn't love the city more, but that's not always how it works out. Sometimes you have to make hard decisions and that's letting a certain player [leave] to keep another player.

"I'm thankful that they viewed me as a special player, a very special player, second-largest guard [multiyear] contract in NFL history, which is an amazing thing, but better that I'm staying in a great city with great fans and a great team, great players around me. It's just a blessing."

Teller, listed as 6-foot-4 and 314 pounds, has achieved his goal of proving himself as a long-term solution for the Browns (5-4), who will visit the New England Patriots (5-4) on Sunday.

"I’m thankful [for] the fans of Cleveland," Teller said. "I mean, offensive linemen are loved. They’re glorified here, and it’s a special city.

"Cleveland has obviously grown on me. As cliche as this sounds, I truly do view the weather, the elements, that we have to play in as a strength. The blue collar mentality —we have a fan base that it's paycheck to paycheck, yet they have season tickets. That's how important it is to our fan base to be able to be there to support us."

Reflecting on Wyatt Teller's rise with Cleveland Browns

Teller has had an amazing ascent with the Browns since former GM John Dorsey acquired him on Aug. 29, 2019, in a trade with the Buffalo Bills, who drafted Teller in the fifth round (No. 166 overall) in 2018 out of Virginia Tech.

Dorsey sent a pick in the fifth round and another in the sixth round of the 2020 NFL Draft to the Bills in exchange for Teller and a 2021 seventh-round choice.

"I looked at [the trade] as a disappointment, like, ‘Dang it, man, I wasn’t good enough for Buffalo,'" Teller said. "But through that adversity, I realized that it was way more of I’m wanted by a team, I'm given an opportunity, and that was Cleveland."

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Teller had started the final seven games of the 2018 season for the Bills and the final nine games of the 2019 season for the Browns before breaking out as an elite guard in 2020 under Bill Callahan, Cleveland's noted offensive line coach.

"[Callahan is] one of the craziest men I've ever met in my entire life," Teller said. "He gets us working out there, but I'm extremely thankful for his guidance and coaching."

Callahan coaches Teller hard. Before the Browns entered training camp in 2020, Callahan said they didn't know who their starting right guard would be. After Teller received the nod, he took full advantage of the opportunity.

“Wyatt Teller’s NFL journey is a remarkable story of resiliency and work ethic,” Berry said in a prepared statement. “He entered the NFL as an unheralded fifth-round pick, was traded to a completely new organization and then placed in a position battle that gave him no assurances of playing time. Yet, rather than bemoaning his lot, he looked at his challenge as a great opportunity.

"During that time he completely changed his body composition, competed daily to earn his starting job and developed a ceaseless desire to learn from the best O-line coach in our sport. To see Wyatt turn himself into one of the top guards in the game has been an enormous pleasure. Congratulations to Wyatt and his family — but please, no more alligators!”

Teller went viral on social media this past offseason for carrying an alligator over his shoulders after hunting it.

Wyatt Teller became a Pro Football Focus darling with the Browns

Teller missed five games last season with calf and ankle injuries, but he was still voted second-team All Pro along with Browns left guard Joel Bitonio. The starting guard tandem played a significant role in the Browns' offensive line establishing itself as one of the best units in the NFL and helping the team make the playoffs for the first time since 2002.

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Teller has started all nine games this season and is coming off a dominant performance in Sunday's 41-16 rout of the Cincinnati Bengals. He had a vital block on running back Nick Chubb's 70-yard rushing touchdown in the third quarter. ProFootballFocus.com gave Teller the best grade among Browns players in the crucial AFC North game.

“Wyatt is a tenacious, physical football player,” Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said in a prepared statement. “He’s a tone-setter for our team and brings a physicality that helps establish the brand of football we want to play. Wyatt is also an extremely diligent and hard worker. We love having him on our team and are excited for him and his family to be rewarded with this hard-earned contract.”

The triumph in Cincinnati and Teller's extension came on the heels of wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. forcing his way out of Cleveland last week.

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Unlike Beckham, Teller had a strong desire to stay.

Instead of testing the open market next offseason in an effort to maximize his earnings, Teller chose to get a deal done now with the Browns.

“As a player, there is security to it," he said. "It's more time that you're insured from a team aspect. If you're playing on your own for a deal, sometimes you can get injured and bad things can happen. You pray that never happens to anybody, but it does. So there is a little bit of stress to that."

PFF ranked Teller first among 80 qualifying guards last season, and the analytics-based website has him ranked second among 76 qualifying guards this season.

PFF gave Teller the best run-blocking grade of any guard in 2020, but noted his pass protection wasn't nearly at the same level. He allowed 14 pressures and three sacks last season.

Still, Teller is a powerful force in whom the Browns wanted to invest. Since 2020, his overall and run-blocking grades assigned by PFF rank second among all NFL guards and trail only Dallas Cowboys four-time All-Pro right guard Zack Martin. In the same span, the Browns' 5.3 yards per carry running behind right guard is first in the league, according to PFF.

Speaking of flattening opponents, Teller said, "All my wife's friends make the joke, 'If you don't open up a pancake house after football, you're crazy.'"

Who are other Cleveland Browns players to watch for contract extensions?

A three-time Pro Bowl selection, Bitonio is PFF's third-ranked guard this season after finishing fifth in the rankings in 2020. He is under contract through the 2022 season. In other words, the Browns are set to have the Teller-Bitonio tandem in place for at least another season and a half.

Teller is the most recent cornerstone Berry has tied to the Browns for years to come.

The Browns signed two-time Pro Bowler Chubb to a three-year, $36.6 million contract extension in August.

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Quarterback Baker Mayfield and cornerback Denzel Ward remain the biggest Browns names to watch on the contract extension front. Both of them are under contract through the 2022 season after Berry exercised the fifth-year options on their rookie deals.

A league source said Tuesday the Browns have still yet to engage in meaningful contract extension talks with the agents of Mayfield, whose uneven season has been complicated by an injured, left non-throwing shoulder.

Ward said his agent had begun extension talks with the Browns in the spring, but a deal has yet to materialize for the Nordonia High School and Ohio State product.

Extensions can come together quickly, though, and that's how Teller's played out.

"It was slow until it was fast," he said. "Then all of a sudden, it was happening at light speed."

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Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Browns secure guard Wyatt Teller with long-term contract extension