2025 NFL Offseason Primer: Cleveland Browns

Cleveland Browns

Projected Cap Space: -$32.8 million

Draft Picks: 12

• 1st (No. 2)
• 2nd (No. 33)
• 3rd (No. 67)
• 3rd (No. 94, BUF)
• 4th (No. 103)
• 5th (No. 165, DET)
• 6th (No. 180)
• 6th (No. 193, MIA)
• 6th (No. 201, MIN)
• 6th (No. 216, comp)
• 6th (No. 217, comp)
• 7th (No. 257, comp)

Notable Free Agents: 

• OT Jedrick Wills
• QB Jameis Winston
• RB Nick Chubb
• WR Elijah Moore
• LB Devin Bush
• DT Maurice Hurst
• RB Nyheim Hines
• RB D’Onta Foreman
• TE Jordan Akins
• OT Germain Ifedi
• OT James Hudson
• C Nick Harris

Top Three Needs

1 – Quarterback

There’s a lot of competition for the worst NFL trade of all time, but when it’s all said and done the Browns’ deal for QB Deshaun Watson might take the top spot. We won’t belabor it here, but between the draft picks given up, the fully guaranteed $230 million salary, the suspension, the injuries and the poor play on the field that the team brass felt it had to ignore because of how much it invested to get him, it’s been a disaster on every level. 

Now with Watson’s torn Achilles and subsequent re-tear, the Browns have no choice but to look into finding a new starter, even if Watson will be on the roster until at least 2026 thanks to his contract. The challenge is their options don’t look inspiring. Free agency and the trade market look less inspiring than past seasons, and the Browns’ hands would be tied anyway because of their cap situation. Cleveland has the No. 2 pick but the consensus is even the top two prospects in the 2025 class would have been picked after the top six in 2024. 

Basically, the Browns have landed themselves in a quagmire with no easy way out. 

2 – Defensive Line

This would have been a need even before DE Myles Garrett rocked the boat with his trade request. Garrett has been superb, winning Defensive Player of the Year in 2023 and earning first-team All-Pro honors for the second straight year and fourth time overall in his career. The Browns have been searching for other pass rushers to take advantage of the attention he draws for a few years now, though. Players like Ogbonnia Okoronkwo and Alex Wright are better suited as rotational rushers at this stage in their respective developments, and Cleveland traded away veteran DE Za’Darius Smith during the season. 

On the interior, veterans like Dalvin Tomlinson and Shelby Harris have been solid but face uncertain futures due to age and salary. Hurst is a free agent and 2024 second-round DT Michael Hall Jr. is coming off a serious knee injury. Help here is needed, whether it’s reinforcements or an overhaul. 

And if the Browns do actually end up trading Garrett, the situation on the defensive line becomes much, much more dire. 

3 – Offensive Line

As if things weren’t bad enough with the whole Watson and Garrett situations, the rest of the Browns’ roster is also riddled with holes. There’s a legitimate argument for cornerback or wide receiver to be here instead, and other non-premium positions like running back, linebacker, safety and kicker also need attention. 

But time and time again, we see that being strong on both sides of the line of scrimmage is the ticket to success in the NFL. The best Browns teams under HC Kevin Stefanski had excellent offensive line play, and the unit’s regression in 2024 coincided with Cleveland’s 3-14 record. It wasn’t just injuries, either, though those didn’t help. Wills started just four games before being shut down for what ended up being the rest of the season, and that relationship feels like it’s run its course. His replacement, OT Dawand Jones, held up okay at left tackle before going down with a season-ending broken leg. The prognosis for that is better than a ligament tear but any major injury for a player Jones’ size (listed at 374 pounds) presents complications. 

The Browns still have veteran RT Jack Conklin under contract but his $14 million base salary isn’t guaranteed and his is the only contract the Browns could cut and generate significant savings from, albeit still less than $5 million. He’s turning 31 and has his own extensive injury history. 

There’s trouble on the interior, too. The Browns had the best guard duo in football for a few years between Joel Bitonio and Wyatt Teller, but both players regressed in 2024. It was the 33-year-old Bitonio’s worst year as a pro and he’s also discussing retiring instead of signing up for another rebuild. Teller is 30 and theoretically has some mileage left but both players are due significant amounts of cash as well. The Browns should start to think about life after both but there are so many other pressing needs to manage as well. 

One Big Question

Can this Browns’ regime be honest with itself?

One of the most corrosive aspects of the Watson trade was how even after multiple seasons of poor play, the Browns refused to embrace any sort of accountability. Any acknowledgment that Watson needed to play better was always paired with and redirected to the offense as a whole playing better around him. Benching the $230 million man was never a public consideration, even when it became clear that the Browns needed to try something. Instead, the team just buried its head in the sand until Watson’s injuries removed him from the lineup. 

That unwillingness to confront the hard truth might end up costing them Garrett in the end, as the star pass rusher’s frustration centers around wanting to win a Super Bowl and not seeing a viable path for that anytime soon in Cleveland. In contrast, Browns GM Andrew Berry has continued to insist in his public appearances the team is not as far away from contending as it seems — despite all the roster holes last year exposed, the aging and declining players and the limited financial flexibility from how Berry structured the Watson contract and numerous others. 

It’s understandable to some degree. If Berry acknowledges just how bad things have gotten, he becomes the GM who signed off on the worst trade of all time and it becomes difficult to justify not trading away Garrett, the franchise’s best player since LT Joe Thomas. Embracing a rebuild means admitting to colossal failure. It could cost Berry his job. 

But if the Browns refuse to acknowledge just how bad things have gotten, how can they possibly fix it? Not being honest with themselves is how the Browns have gotten into this mess, and unless it changes, it will just prolong the misery.