AP

The Browns released linebacker Karlos Dansby on Wednesday, which means the veteran won’t see the $5 million base salary he had coming his way in 2016.

Dansby wasn’t too upset about that development, however. He’d called his two years with the Browns “the toughest two years” he’d spent in the NFL during a radio interview earlier in the day and said after his release that his only regret was that it didn’t come earlier so he could have had a jump on the free agent market. Overall, though, he’s happy to have a chance to find a team that’s a lot closer to being a winner than the Browns are at the moment.

“I appreciated it because it gives me a chance to win,” Dansby said, via Cleveland.com. “There a lot of teams that are close and I can help them. The Browns are in a rebuild. This gets me closer to my destiny. … Let’s go get that ring.”

Dansby suggested the Bengals are “licking their chops” at the news that he’s now a free agent. The Bengals will be without Vontaze Burfict for the first three games of the season and also have Rey Maualuga, A.J. Hawk, 2015 third-round pick Paul Dawson and Vincent Rey at linebacker.

That’s only one possibility, of course, and Dansby would be able to help several teams get better on defense in 2016 so he should be able to find a new team without too much delay.