The Cleveland Browns head into the 2025 season with some of the unpredictable rosters within the NFL. Positive, there’s no scarcity of expertise on both facet of the ball. Nonetheless, a chaotic offseason has solely fueled doubts in regards to the workforce’s route. From quarterback controversies to a protection attempting to carry all of it collectively, Cleveland’s minicamp highlight has revealed extra questions than solutions. For a few veterans, the solutions could also be unhealthy information. With an inflow of younger expertise and the entrance workplace desperate to reshape the longer term, two acquainted faces could discover themselves on the skin wanting in when last roster cuts arrive.
A Unstable Offseason
The Browns have had fairly the offseason, notably after a drama-filled 2025 NFL Draft. All eyes are actually on the quarterback place, the place 5 gamers are jockeying for place. That features high-upside rookies Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders. Getting Sanders within the fifth spherical could go down as one of many steals of the draft. He brings tantalizing long-term potential and a aptitude for playmaking that might redefine the Browns’ identification beneath heart.
If Sanders, and even Gabriel, wins the job sooner or later, they’ll profit from a greater offensive setup than what Cleveland fielded in 2024. Working backs Quinshon Judkins and Dylan Sampson may kind a dynamic one-two punch to switch the oft-injured Nick Chubb. In the meantime, Harold Fannin Jr offers Cleveland one other pass-catching menace at tight finish alongside David Njoku. That ought to assist to lighten the load for brand spanking new prime receiver Jerry Jeudy.
On protection, the Browns scored a win by retaining All-Professional move rusher Myles Garrett. Additionally they hit massive within the draft, including potential Day 1 contributors in defensive deal with Mason Graham and linebacker Carson Schwesinger. On paper, the protection stays a top-10 unit.
That stated, dysfunction nonetheless lingers. Even a comparatively favorable schedule couldn’t carry the Browns out of the cellar. With strain mounting and the longer term clearly in thoughts, roster trimming is inevitable — and a few well-known names might be headed for the chopping block.
1. The Veteran Quarterback Going through a Youth Motion
The return of Joe Flacco for the 2025 season was billed as a stabilizing transfer. In any case, the 40-year-old veteran stepped in through the 2023 season and introduced shocking calm to a rocky quarterback scenario. Nonetheless, this 12 months’s circumstances are starkly totally different and never in Flacco’s favor.
Deshaun Watson is out for the 12 months following back-to-back Achilles accidents. In response, the Browns acquired Kenny Pickett by way of commerce and drafted each Gabriel and Sanders. That makes 5 quarterbacks at present on the roster. With NFL groups hardly ever carrying greater than three into the common season, Flacco is now staring down a numbers sport he could not win.
His fundamental worth lies in his expertise and locker room management. That stated, these traits solely go to date when a workforce is in rebuilding mode. Gabriel and Sanders symbolize the longer term, whereas Pickett is a 26-year-old former first-round decide who nonetheless has growth runway. Flacco, in the meantime, presents no long-term upside. His restricted mobility behind a still-shaky offensive line may show pricey.
After all, there’s precedent right here. In 2023, Cleveland carried 4 QBs via the offseason earlier than flipping Josh Dobbs to Arizona. The same situation may play out, particularly if one other workforce loses a quarterback in camp. If that occurs, Flacco’s worth as a short-term plug-in may internet Cleveland a late-round decide. On the flip facet, if no market emerges, he could be the odd man out.
2. A Former First-Rounder Working Out of Time
Article Continues Under
Greg Newsome II’s 2024 season was a tough one. A career-low 54.0 PFF protection grade, solely three move breakups, and a troubling 24.3 p.c missed deal with fee painted a stark distinction to the participant who as soon as seemed like a foundational piece of Cleveland’s secondary. Nonetheless, what makes Newsome’s scenario extra difficult is not only efficiency however quite, context.
Newsome is coming into the ultimate 12 months of his rookie contract, as is fellow cornerback Martin Emerson. Within the wage cap crunch Cleveland at present faces, it’s unlikely each will return in 2026. In actual fact, if Newsome has a bounce-back 12 months, which will solely worth him out of city sooner.
It begs the query: Ought to Cleveland contemplate transferring on early?
From a enterprise standpoint, it is smart. The Browns are rebuilding round youthful, cheaper expertise. Drafting extra cornerback depth this spring solely additional complicates Newsome’s standing. Positive, his expertise is plain. Nonetheless, the match and funds are now not excellent. A commerce may deliver again wanted draft capital or cap flexibility. It may additionally open reps for ascending gamers like Cameron Mitchell.
Extra importantly, the optics matter. Cleveland’s entrance workplace must sign a real reset. Which will imply chopping ties with any participant who doesn’t match their future window, no matter previous manufacturing.
Robust Calls Lie Forward
NFL minicamps all the time deliver readability and strain. In Cleveland, that strain is amplified by the franchise’s bottom-feeder standing and ongoing quarterback drama. For veterans like Joe Flacco and Greg Newsome II, the writing could already be on the wall. Whether or not it’s due to age, wage, or just the tide of youth motion sweeping throughout the roster, their spots are removed from assured.
If the Browns wish to construct one thing sustainable, they’ll’t cling to the previous. These powerful cuts — or trades — could damage within the brief time period, however they’re precisely the sort of strikes that present a entrance workplace is severe about altering the trajectory of a floundering franchise.
Cleveland will not be able to contend, but it surely needs to be able to evolve. And that begins now.