Cleveland Browns News & Rumors

Pocic is the next man up after the Tretter release and Nick Harris season-ending knee injury; the ex-Seahawk has made 24 starts since 2020. PFF liked Pocic’s 2021 work better than his 2020 performance, slotting him 15th among centers. He has some acclaimed blockers alongside him. Grant’s Achilles tear represents a bad break for the electric return man. The former Dolphins and Bears standout, a 2021 Pro Bowler, could have aided Brissett and Co. in field position.

Re-signings:

• Jadeveon Clowney, DE. One year, $10MM. $9.25MM guaranteed.
• Anthony Walker, LB. One year, $4.25MM. $4MM guaranteed.
• Chris Hubbard, T. One year, $2.66MM. $2.66MM guaranteed.
• Ronnie Harrison, S. One year, $1.24MM. $500K guaranteed.

Clowney, 29, said Watson’s decision to waive his no-trade clause for Cleveland played a big role in convincing him to return. He had prepared to sign with the Falcons if Watson had chosen them. Although Clowney and Watson will not share the field much this season, the carrot of a full season from the ex-Texans quarterback in 2023 could convince Clowney to come back again. The former No. 1 overall pick is now in Year 9; he has yet to land a long-term veteran deal.

The ex-South Carolina super-prospect went from his rookie salaries to the fifth-year option to being a tag-and-trade player to one-year pacts with the Titans and Browns. Clowney’s health history has prevented the kind of lucrative multiyear guarantees that have gone to players of his ilk, but he is not exactly lacking in funds. This season will bump him north of $80MM in career earnings. Clowney, who combined for three sacks in Seattle and Tennessee, ripped off nine opposite Myles Garrett last season. With a suspect defensive tackle depth chart, the Browns need the versatile defender to repeat that performance.

PFF graded Walker as a top-20 off-ball linebacker last season, and the Browns will keep this year-to-year partnership going. The former Shaquille Leonard Colts sidekick will team with Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah to form one of the NFL’s better three-down linebacking tandems. With the exception of its defensive tackle spots, the Browns’ defense is sound on all three levels.

Harrison coming back brings experience, at least, and Browns DC Joe Woods plans to deploy another healthy dose of three-safety looks. Though, Harrison was charged with allowing six touchdown passes last season. The former Jaguars starter does have 40 starts under his belt.

Hubbard supplies solid depth up front. He has enjoyed an interesting Browns career. Signed to be the team’s right tackle in 2018, Hubbard could not stick at that spot but continued to stay on the same page with the Berry regime, which reworked the John Dorsey-era signing’s deal in 2020. Despite a September triceps injury that knocked Hubbard out for the season, the ex-Steelers starter is back. With starter Jack Conklin finishing up a recovery from one of the toughest injuries to surmount — a patellar tendon tear — and uncertain to start the season on time, players like Hubbard, Haeg and rookie-contract backup James Hudson come into focus.

Notable losses:

• Dustin Colquitt, P
• Rashard Higgins, WR
• Austin Hooper, TE (released)
• Malik Jackson, DT
• Andy Janovich, FB (released)
• Blake Hance, OL (waived)
• Jarvis Landry, WR (released)
• Malik McDowell, DT (nontendered as ERFA)
• Takk McKinley, DE
• Nick Mullens, QB
• Malcolm Smith, LB
• M.J. Stewart, S
• Ryan Switzer, WR (retired)
• J.C. Tretter, C (released, then retired)

More consistent than Beckham, Landry became Mayfield’s go-to target during the team’s playoff run. His short-range space creation would seemingly have meshed with Brissett’s style, and while the Browns were connected to bringing Landry back for a fifth season even after cutting him, the sides parted ways. Landry was better in Miami than he was in Cleveland, but the ex-Dolphins slot unveiled more dimensions to his game with the Browns and added two more Pro Bowls to his resume.

Landry’s Saints signing stands to help Jameis Winston reacclimate after his ACL tear; Cleveland has pivoted to younger pass catchers.

Signed during Berry’s stay under former front office boss Sashi Brown, Tretter more than delivered on that 2017 commitment. The Packers draftee became one of the NFL’s top centers with the Browns, never missing a game due to injury in five seasons. The ironman blocker contributed to Chubb’s rise and formed perhaps the NFL’s best interior O-line troika in between Joel Bitonio and Wyatt Teller. Tretter, 31, became the NFLPA president during his Browns tenure. He said that job played a part in his earlier-than-expected retirement. The Browns have some big shoes to fill here.

The Browns’ D-tackle Maliks did not catch on anywhere else. Jackson, a starter on the Broncos’ dominant 2015 Super Bowl defense and part of the Jaguars’ “Sacksonville” D-line armada, only registered a half-sack as a Brown. The Browns ditched McDowell after one season. The former Seahawks third-round pick was arrested in January, being accused of exposing himself in public, resisting arrest with violence, and battery on a law enforcement officer. PFF rated neither Jackson nor McDowell inside the top 90 at D-tackle last season. Their exits do cloud the position, with ex-Jackson Jacksonville teammate Taven Bryan in line to start despite underperforming as a Jags first-rounder. Third-year cog Jordan Elliott (four career starts) will move from rotation player to first-stringer.

Hooper’s designation as a post-June 1 cut created $9.5MM in cap space. The team currently leads the league — by a substantial margin — with $38MM-plus in cap space. The Browns gave Hooper a then-tight end record $10.5MM-per-year deal in 2020, but the ex-Falcon never lived up to it. Despite a rumor connecting the parties, the Browns are not believed to have shown interest in using some of that cap room on Ndamukong Suh. Given what Watson’s contract will do to the Browns’ payroll in 2023, it makes sense for the team to roll over as much cap space from 2022 as possible.

Draft:

• 3-68: Martin Emerson, CB (Mississippi State)
• 3-78: Alex Wright, DE (UAB)
• 3-99: David Bell, WR (Purdue)
• 4-108: Perrion Winfrey, DT (Oklahoma)
• 4-124: Cade York, K (LSU)
• 5-156: Jerome Ford, RB (Cincinnati)
• 6-202: Mike Woods, WR (Oklahoma)
• 7-223: Isaiah Thomas, DE (Oklahoma)
• 7-246: Dawson Deaton, C (Texas Tech)

Partners on two Watson trades and the Brock Osweiler NBA-style salary dump, the Browns and Texans linked up on another swap that provided more Day 2 capital for Cleveland. Moving down 24 spots to give Houston John Metchie draft real estate, Cleveland nabbed a new slot cornerback and a few rookies that could be asked to contribute immediately. After four years of Mayfield’s rookie deal allowed the Browns to add veterans, the Watson-era payroll will require Berry and Co. to hit on Day 2 draft picks.

A slot cornerback option, Emerson — whose arrival sent Troy Hill back to Los Angeles — will fill in behind the Browns’ experienced Denzel Ward–Greg Newsome–Greedy Williams trio. Wright will be expected to work in behind Garrett and Clowney. Winfrey and Bell may have clearer avenues to starting gigs, due to the uncertainty at their respective positions.

A Rondale Moore teammate at Purdue, Bell was the steadier presence — due to Moore’s injury trouble and early West Lafayette exit — and dropped a 1,286-yard season and earned an All-American nod in his Boilermakers finale. The 205-pound target may have a bigger role than some first- or second-round receiver draftees, being set to play alongside Cooper and Donovan Peoples-Jones. Bell overcame an offseason foot stress fracture to secure this standing.

The Browns used a different primary kicker in each of the past eight seasons. The team was interested in standout Bengals rookie Evan McPherson last year and made sure to land its kicker on Day 3 this time around. York is the highest-drafted kicker since the Buccaneers’ Roberto Aguayo second-round selection six years ago. This will be a weather transition for York, a Dallas-area native who spent three years in Baton Rouge.

Extensions and restructures:

• Reupped CB Denzel Ward on five-year, $100.5MM deal ($44.5MM guaranteed)
• Extended franchise-tagged TE David Njoku at four years, $54.75MM ($17MM guaranteed)
• Reached agreement with RB D’Ernest Johnson (one year, $1.2MM), removing RFA tender

Extension agreements rounded out Cleveland’s busy offseason. The other of Dorsey’s 2018 top-five picks, Ward, is now signed through 2027. That proved to be the easier call. Njoku’s resume would not suggest he was in line to become one of the league’s highest-paid tight ends, but neither did Hooper’s at the time. Circumstances benefited another Browns tight end.

After injuries and COVID-19 limited Ward during the first three years of his career, the Cleveland-area native put together a strong season to vault him into position for a record-setting deal. After Marlon Humphrey, Tre’Davious White and Jalen Ramsey broke the ice formation atop the cornerback market, Ward and Jaire Alexander joined Ramsey in the $20MM-per-year club. While Alexander agreed to the Packers’ style of no guarantees beyond Year 1, the Browns gave Ward a market-topping $44.5MM fully guaranteed.

The Ohio State alum setting career-best marks in terms of yards per target (5.6) and yards per completion (8.8) led PFF to tab him a top-15 corner. Ward, 25, may not quite be on Ramsey’s level, but he is the best homegrown Browns corner in ages. He and Garrett are locked in to anchor Cleveland’s 2020s defenses.

The Browns’ $13.7MM-per-year Njoku contract is a bet on the former first-rounder’s potential with Watson. Still, Njoku’s five-year sample makes it odd he bounded into position to be franchise-tagged and secure such a payout. Njoku has one 500-plus-yard season; it came back in 2018. The ex-Miami Hurricane requested a trade after the Hooper signing, then backed off and declared he sought a long-term northeast Ohio future. The Browns greenlit that and added two void years to the extension for cap purposes.

Njoku’s $17MM fully guaranteed would have given the Browns an easier time bailing on a contract for a still-unproven player, but the void years increase the dead-cap hit further down the line. Cleveland is committed to the 26-year-old pass catcher through at least 2023, with a 2024 release costing north of $13MM in dead money. The Cowboys’ negotiations with their tagged tight end (Dalton Schultz) were probably impacted by a player with inferior stats scoring a deal nearly $3MM north of the tag price and becoming the league’s fifth-highest-paid tight end.

Other:

• RB Kareem Hunt requests trade; team unlikely to make deal
• Kwesi Adofo-Mensah became Vikings GM
• Hired Catherine Raiche, promoted Glenn Cook to fill assistant GM-type role
• Added Jimmy Raye III to front office
• Former HC Hue Jackson accuses team of incentivizing tanking during tenure; NFL could not substantiate claims
• Claimed QB Kellen Mond via waivers
• Signed 12 UDFAs

In the time since Hunt signed his two-year, $13MM extension (September 2020), the running back market changed. Days after Hunt’s deal, the Vikings and Saints gave their top backs (Dalvin Cook, Alvin Kamara) big-ticket extensions. The Packers followed suit with Aaron Jones in March 2021. The Browns then gave Chubb a deal worth double Hunt’s salary. Players who lack Hunt’s talent and accolades have also surpassed him in the months since, pushing the 2017 rushing champion’s deal to 15th among running backs. Going into his age-28 season, time is running out for Hunt to cash in.

Hunt was coming off an abbreviated season when he reupped with his hometown team; his 2018 assault on a woman at a Cleveland hotel undoubtedly affected his price. The Browns’ Chubb-Hunt backfield drives their offense, and its importance figures to increase with Brissett. The Browns lacking much pass-catching certainty is another reason they have surely prioritized keeping Hunt, the team’s receiving back. Even with D’Ernest Johnson back in the fold, this all points to Hunt playing out his contract. Hunt’s presence also keeps Chubb’s mileage manageable. While that will keep annoying fantasy GMs, Chubb remaining a top-tier back in 2023 is suddenly a key Browns matter considering their Watson-adjusted timeline.

To secure a worthwhile deal as a 2023 free agent, Hunt will need to stay healthy this year. He did not do so in 2021, missing nine games. Next year’s free agency class also could create a buyer’s market at running back — not that it ever veers heavily toward sellers anymore. Ahead of Week 1, Saquon Barkley, Josh Jacobs, David Montgomery, Damien Harris and Miles Sanders join Hunt in entering contract years. So many younger, starter-caliber options included here will undoubtedly impact Hunt’s quest to be paid a deal commensurate with his abilities.

Adofo-Mensah was with the Browns for just two years, and one of the interviewees he beat out for the Vikings’ top front office job joined Berry. Raiche’s vault up the front office ladder represents a major story within the NFL executive ranks. The young exec was a CFL assistant GM in her 20s and has only been in the NFL since 2019. Teams may view Raiche as needing more experience before making her a GM finalist, but this Cleveland position profiles as a potential launching pad for the NFL to have its first female GM in nearly 40 years. The ex-Berry Eagles coworker and Cook — a seventh-year Browns staffer who interviewed for Minnesota and Chicago’s GM gigs — will be tasked with helping Berry build a roster around Watson’s unique contract. How that goes will probably determine how quickly Raiche and/or Cook can land a GM position elsewhere.

Top 10 cap charges for 2022:

1. Myles Garrett, DE: $12.96MM
2. Jack Conklin, T: $11MM
3. Deshaun Watson, QB: $9.4MM
4. John Johnson, S: $7.75MM
5. Joel Bitonio, G: $6.66MM
6. Kareem Hunt, RB: $6.25MM
7. Jedrick Wills, T: $5.37MM
8. Nick Chubb, RB: $5.21MM
9. Denzel Ward, CB: $5.04MM
10. Amari Cooper, WR: $4.9MM

In a tough AFC, the Browns missing their top quarterback for 11 games could make this a lost season. Cleveland’s nucleus received too much hype in 2019, not enough in 2020 and entered 2021 spearheading a squad viewed as a surefire AFC contender — only to take a major step back. The Garrett-, Ward-, Chubb- and Bitonio-led crew’s big-picture relevance possibly being on hold until 2023 would add to the list of oddities surrounding this franchise.

The Browns, who created a contract that also keeps Watson’s guarantees intact despite the suspension, have made an unprecedented commitment to a player embroiled in one of the biggest scandals in modern NFL history. The volume of accusations against Watson and his comments since being acquired make the former national championship-winning QB an atypical franchise centerpiece. How this polarizing partnership unfolds on and off the field will define the Haslams’ ownership tenure and the Berry-Stefanski regime. For better or worse, Watson is the Browns’ future.