The Cleveland Browns are coming into their first season of the post-Nick Chubb period, and to this point, their operating again place stays unsure. It could have been clearer if not for the undesirable scenario that former Ohio State star tailback Quinshon Judkins bought himself into, as he just lately bought arrested for misdemeanor home battery.
Judkins can be nonetheless unsigned, and whereas Cleveland seems to don’t have any particular course in terms of him, the staff has made a low-key acquisition so as to add to its operating again room.
“Browns signed RB Toa Taua, who spent the previous two seasons with the Michigan Panthers and led the UFL in speeding touchdowns final season,” wrote Adam Schefter in a publish on X (previously Twitter) on Monday morning.
Though Taua isn’t a reputation that may flip many heads, particularly amongst informal soccer followers, he is s constructed a stable popularity within the United Soccer League (UFL). Taua, who went undrafted within the 2023 NFL draft, has seen motion for 3 years within the UFL with the Michigan Panthers. Within the 2025 season, he led the league with a complete of six speeding touchdowns. He was additionally sixth that season within the UFL with 356 speeding yards by seven video games.
Even with that background, Taua nonetheless has loads to show to the Browns if he’s to make the ultimate 53-man roster.
Earlier than turning professional, the 25-year-old Taua performed 5 seasons for the Nevada Wolf Pack, racking up 3,995 speeding yards and 33 touchdowns on 855 carries. He additionally collected 1,192 receiving yards and 4 touchdowns on 163 catches throughout 59 video games.
Jerome Ford will be thought of the Browns’ prime possibility on the bottom, whereas Judkins, Dylan Sampson and Pierre Robust Jr. are on the depth chart as properly. Within the occasion the Browns half methods with Judkins, Taua might find yourself being a part of the ultimate reduce, and whereas that is nonetheless too early to inform, he is bought the chance to show himself worthy of a roster spot.
Within the 2024 NFL season, the Browns had one of many least productive floor video games, as they averaged simply 94.6 speeding yards per contest, twenty ninth general within the league.