We’ll keep track of today’s minor moves here:
Cleveland Browns
- Signed: RB Corey Taylor II
Detroit Lions
- Signed: DT Miles Brown
We’ll keep track of today’s minor moves here:
Cleveland Browns
Detroit Lions
For the first time in nearly a year, Greedy Williams was a full practice participant. The Browns began their 11-on-11 drills without Williams on Tuesday. A day later, the former second-round pick was full-go, Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal notes.
The third-year cornerback is officially off the Browns’ active/PUP list and will attempt to return to Cleveland’s starting lineup. A shoulder nerve issue sidelined Williams during training camp last year — on the same day ex-Williams LSU teammate Grant Delpit suffered a ruptured Achilles’ tendon — and he went on IR in October. Neither Williams nor Delpit played last season.
The Browns have eased Delpit back into action, but Williams can begin making a legitimate attempt to recapture his starting job. A second-round pick during John Dorsey‘s GM regime, Williams started 12 games as a rookie. While Williams will face stiffer competition for a first-string job this year, he lined up with the Browns’ starting defense during OTAs and was back in that role Wednesday
After using stopgap solutions alongside Denzel Ward in 2020, the Browns were active in bolstering their cornerback group this offseason. Cleveland signed Troy Hill and drafted Greg Newsome in the first round. Williams’ return gives the team interesting depth. The Browns have made extensive outside investments on defense this year, after ranking 25th in DVOA on that side of the ball last season. But the returns of Williams and Delpit also stand to strengthen the unit.
Let’s catch up on the details of some of the big contracts recently signed around the NFL:
The Browns’ young GM/HC combo of Andrew Berry and Kevin Stefanski, both of whom were hired in January 2020, appear to have the team headed in the right direction. Although much of the current roster was constructed by former GM John Dorsey, the Browns finally got back to the postseason with Berry and Stefanski at the helm, and they look poised for an extended run of competitiveness.
Berry and Stefanski are signed through 2024, and so is the man who is largely responsible for their hirings, chief strategy officer Paul DePodesta. As Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal writes, DePodesta was given a five-year extension in 2020, which club owner Jimmy Haslam just revealed yesterday.
“It lines up with [Berry and Stefanski],” Haslam said of DePodesta’s contract. “That makes all the sense, and we’re super excited about that. Paul’s going to be with us for a significant amount of time. Paul’s not the type, you don’t need to announce something on Paul’s behalf, but he’s going to be with us for a significant amount of time.”
Haslam brought DePodesta on board in January 2016, and his hire was an unconventional one to say the least. He had no previous football experience, having made his name as a Major League Baseball executive with the Moneyball-era Athletics before becoming the GM of the Dodgers. He also worked in the front offices of the Padres and Mets.
His analytics-based approach to roster construction is what initially caught Haslam’s attention, and he has clearly earned the owner’s trust over his first few years in Cleveland. DePodesta has outlasted former executive VP of football operations Sashi Brown and Dorsey, and Berry and Stefanski were the GM and head coach candidates that DePodesta preferred. For the first time in a long time, the organization’s top power brokers appear to be completely in sync, and Haslam has acted to maintain that unified vision.
We’ve got a bunch of minor moves to report from what turned out to be a pretty busy Saturday in the NFL:
Atlanta Falcons
Cleveland Browns
Houston Texans
Indianapolis Colts
Jacksonville Jaguars
New England Patriots
New York Giants
New York Jets
Seattle Seahawks
Washington Football Team
Hundley is the biggest signing on this list. The Colts adding him is a pretty good sign they expect Carson Wentz to miss some significant time. Assuming Wentz misses games, Hundley will battle it out with second-year pro Jacob Eason.
A couple of kickers who have started a bunch of games both found themselves sent packing in Ficken and Rosas. Mannion latched on with the Seahawks. He’s familiar with new Seattle OC Shane Waldron from their time together with the Rams, explaining why the Seahawks added him as an option behind Russell Wilson.
We’ve heard a lot about a potential Nick Chubb extension this offseason, and now it’s officially happening. The Browns and the running back have agreed to terms on an extension, a source told Mike Jones of USA Today (Twitter link).
Jones said four years, but it’s actually a three-year extension worth $36MM with $20MM guaranteed, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network tweets. Veteran NFL reporter Josina Anderson was first to tweet that a deal was close. It had always been up in the air whether something would get done before the season started, but they managed to get it done with plenty of time to spare.
As a second-round pick in 2018, Chubb was previously set to enter the final year of his rookie deal. He’s been one of the best running backs in the NFL since entering the league, and has made the Pro Bowl each of the last two seasons.
The Georgia product led the league in rushing in 2019 and led the league in rushing touchdowns last year with 12 despite playing only 12 games. Impressively, Chubb has averaged at least five yards per carry in each of his three pro seasons.
Chubb is now one of the league’s highest-paid running backs, and he should have at least another opportunity to break the bank. As a result of this relatively short-term deal, Chubb will get to re-enter free agency in the spring of 2025 when he’ll still only be 29.
Head coach Kevin Stefanski loves to run the ball, and he wasn’t about to let the engine of his offense go anywhere. The deal will keep Chubb tied to the Browns through the 2024 campaign. Cleveland also has Kareem Hunt in their backfield, but that didn’t appear to make them at all hesitant about paying Chubb.
The Browns have hired former Lions GM Bob Quinn as a Senior Consultant (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport). Quinn will act as a “sounding board” for GM Andrew Berry as he returns to football for the first time since November of last year.
Quinn, a longtime scout/exec for the Patriots, was hired as the Lions’ GM in January of 2016. After inheriting Jim Caldwell, he made his first official head-coaching hire in Matt Patricia.
The Lions fired Quinn and Patricia shortly after their blowout Thanksgiving loss. It was a trying year for the Lions — they missed the playoffs for a fourth straight season and had just dropped back-to-back games against the Panthers and Texans in embarrassing fashion. And, in the (almost) three years leading up to Quinn’s firing, they posted a 13-29-1 record.
Despite all of that, some believed that Quinn would still garner serious consideration in the early 2021 GM cycle. That didn’t happen, so he’ll spend the year with the Browns’ FO.
The Browns are once again a popular pick to make a deep postseason run, and their talent at running back is one of many reasons why. The depth chart is topped by Nick Chubb, who has earned two Pro Bowl nods in three professional seasons and whose 5.2 YPC average underscores his excellence. Behind Chubb, of course, is Kareem Hunt, a similarly capable runner who is also a force in the passing game.
When the Rams lost Cam Akers to an Achilles tear last week, there was chatter that LA could look to the free agent or trade markets to replace him. While the Rams have indicated they are comfortable with their in-house options, Hunt would profile as an intriguing trade target for any RB-needy team given the Browns’ depth (Cleveland is also rostering third-year pro D’Ernest Johnson, who has played well in limited snaps, and sixth-round rookie Demetric Felton).
Hunt’s trade appeal is heightened by the fact that he is tied to eminently reasonable base salaries of $1.3MM and $1.35MM over the next two seasons. However, Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com (subscription required) writes that the Browns have no interest in trading Hunt.
As Cabot observes, the Browns did not suffer much of a drop-off at all when Hunt replaced an injured Chubb for a few games in 2020, and she expects the club to continue to expand Hunt’s role. Thanks to Hunt’s receiving prowess, he and Chubb could appear on the field together a great deal this season, which will only make a potentially explosive offense even more dynamic. So regardless of whatever injuries or underperformance rival clubs might experience this summer, Hunt will not be made available.
In other Browns news, Cabot reports that no players will open training camp on the PUP list. Players like Odell Beckham, Grant Delpit, and Greedy Williams are all coming off major injuries, but they will be ready to hit the field with their teammates right away (though the Browns will continue to be cautious, of course).
And just like that, the Browns have finished signing their draft class. After signing cornerback Greg Newsome II, the team completed the signing of their rookies by inking third-round receiver Anthony Schwartz to his pact (per Cleveland.com’s Mary Kay Cabot on Twitter). The four-year deal is worth $4.86MM.
[RELATED: Browns Sign First-Round CB Greg Newsome II]
Schwartz made a name for himself as a high school athlete, setting a number of sprint records. He ultimately joined Auburn to play football, and he saw time in 33 games across three seasons with the Tigers, hauling in 117 receptions for 1,433 yards and six touchdowns. Thanks to his explosive speed, Cleveland selected the wideout in the third round (No. 91) of the draft.
Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry sit atop the depth chart in Cleveland, but Schwartz could find himself generating some offensive snaps if he can beat the likes of Donovan Peoples-Jones, Rashard Higgins, and KhaDarel Hodge. There’s also a chance the rook contributes on special teams, although he’d have to beat out Peoples-Jones and D’Ernest Johnson for those roles.
With the signing, the Browns have officially inked all eight of the draft picks:
Round 1: No. 26 Greg Newsome II, CB (Northwestern)
Round 2: No. 52 (from Panthers) Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, LB (Notre Dame) (signed)
Round 3: No. 91 (from Saints) Anthony Schwartz, WR (Auburn)
Round 4: No. 110 (from Eagles) James Hudson, OT (Cincinnati) (signed)
Round 4: No. 132 Tommy Togiai, DT (Ohio State) (signed)
Round 5: No. 153 (from Lions) Tony Fields II, LB (West Virginia) (signed)
Round 5: No. 169 (from Rams) Richard Lecounte III, S (Georgia) (signed)
Round 6: No. 211 Demetric Felton, RB (UCLA) (signed)
Another first rounder has put pen to paper. Browns first-round cornerback Greg Newsome II has inked his rookie contract, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter (via Twitter). The No. 26 pick in the draft will get the standard four-year contract worth $12.75MM.
Newsome had a standout career at Northwestern, starting 18 games and guiding the Wildcats to a pair of Big Ten title games. After earning first-team All-Big-Ten honors in 2020, the defensive back declared for the draft. While Newsome was the fourth cornerback off the board, that was still good enough to warrant a first-selection.
The 6-foot-1 cornerback is a strong candidate to start opposite Denzel Ward in Cleveland, although Greedy Williams will give the rookie a run for his money as the veteran looks to return from a season-long shoulder ailment. No matter what role Newsome ends up playing, he’s ready to contribute however he can.
“My goal honestly is just to do whatever I can to help the team win,’’ Newsome said (via Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com). “Obviously, I would love to start at corner. I think any corner in the room would love to be a starting corner. At the end of the day, if I am helping the team win, that is all I can ask for.”
Newsome was the 29th first-round pick to ink their rookie contract, although his delay was inevitabl3 after switching representation earlier this offseason. Following the signing, the only unsigned first-round picks are Jets quarterback Zach Wilson (No. 2), 49ers quarterback Trey Lance (No. 3), and Chargers offensive tackle Rashawn Slater (No. 13).