AP

Browns safety Tashaun Gipson wasn’t happy with the second-round tender offer he got as a restricted free agent this offseason. But now that he’s signed the one-year, $2.356 million deal, he’s looking forward to hitting unrestricted free agency a year from now.

Gipson told WKYC he wants to “bet on myself” this year, and hit free agency in March coming off his best season.

“I’m perfectly fine with it, and I know what I can do in this defense,” Gipson said. “I know the freedom that I have in this defense, and I know the guys around me, so it’s not something like, ‘Hey, man. I stick out like a sore thumb.’ I’ve got All-Pros and Pro Bowlers all around this defense, so it’s going to be fun. I’m going to have a smile on my face. At the end of the day, my rookie contract was less than this tender. So on the bright side about it, I’m going to make more money than I’ve ever made, so I can’t complain about that.”

The 24-year-old Gipson joined the Browns as an undrafted rookie out of Wyoming in 2012 and has led the AFC in interceptions each of the last two seasons. If he does that again this year, he knows he’s going to be paid like one of the best safeties in football, either in Cleveland or elsewhere.

“The top five guys are all getting paid $9-plus million. That type of stuff, it entices you and it says, ‘Hey, man. There’s light at the end of the tunnel,'” Gipson said.

Gipson’s salary has grown from $390,000 in his rookie year to $480,000 in 2013, to $570,000 last year and now $2.356 million. That’s a big increase this year, and in nine months he should sign a contract that gives him an even bigger pay raise.