The 3 most disappointing offseason moves by Cleveland Browns

Disappointing Offseason Move No. 3 – Release of Austin Hooper

Let me be clear, no one deserved to be cut more than Austin Hooper this offseason. I truly like the guy, but he never lived up to the four-year, $42 million contract he signed in 2020. I’m not sure it was him or Baker Mayfield, but they could just never get in sync.

So, on one side I totally agree with the cut, but the puzzling move now is, what are they going to do at tight end? I know David Njoku and Harrison Bryant are on the roster, but neither are known for their blocking and we all know that Kevin Stefanski loves to have three tight ends on the field.

My point is, why not just keep Hooper even at the high salary if you didn’t have a backup plan? The salary cap isn’t an issue for the Browns, and there was a good amount of dead cap by cutting Hooper this early into his deal.

Njoku was clearly the best tight end on the roster last year, but Hooper did do a fantastic job of blocking. I would also argue that he could have had a breakout year in 2022 with Watson now at quarterback who is far better than Mayfield at checking down to running backs and tight ends.

There’s still time for Berry to add another tight end in free agency, but if we go into week one with the roster “as is” at tight end, many will have wished that Hooper remained on the roster.