4 former Cleveland Browns free agents worth signing

1. Connor Davis

So, why not sign a 6-foot-8, 276-pound blocking tight end who also demonstrated very good hands with the Browns last year? That would be Connor Davis, who looked really good in the preseason games before a shoulder injury stopped him. Davis played defense as well as offensive line for Stony Brook in college, but the professionals have seen him as a blocking tight end.

At first, to tell the truth, I thought he had no shot because he didn’t play many snaps at tight end at Stony Brook University, and I wrote kind of a tongue-in-cheek article comparing him to Tim Tebow, who at the time was trying to convert to tight end in Jacksonville.

The thrust of the article was that Jacksonville had a longshot tight end, and so did the Browns. Just because I put Tebow in the title, there were thousands of page views that day (admittedly a rather shameless attention getting device). But then it turned out that Davis could actually play.

The Browns cut him loose due to a shoulder injury. Otherwise, he surely would have been at least kept on the practice squad and likely would have been promoted to the 53-player roster at some point.

Most recently, Davis has been employed by the USFL Michigan Panthers where he had a good season, used primarily as a blocking tight end. He was targeted only four times and caught three passes, one for a diving touchdown (limited data sample, yes, but it seems like every time he has the opportunity he has made the difficult catch).

He received good reviews for his work at the USFL. It was disappointing that they didn’t throw to him more. Jeff Fisher was the coach there, and he should know a thing or two about coaching.

The Browns don’t currently have a convincing third string tight end.

Miller Forristall is an undrafted tight end from Alabama with an ordinary career and Pro Day numbers; Nakia Griffin-Stewart has had tryouts with several NFL teams after an undergraduate career at Rutgers followed by one year as a graduate transfer at the University of Pittsburgh, with modest success; Zaire Mitchell-Paden, another graduate transfer from Florida Atlantic University after graduating from Notre Dame College (not to be confused with the Golden Dome place) and Marcus Santos-Silva, who played college basketball for the Texas Tech Red Raiders.

Davis could be signed in lieu of one of the other longshots. At a minimum, he could be signed to the practice squad because he will likely be able to clear waivers. But he can possibly win a job outright, as an NFL team usually carries three tight ends and the Browns have only David Njoku and Harrison Bryant as the only certain players at the position.

Honorable mention goes to Stephen Carlson, another Browns blocking tight end who was injured last season, but who is now trying out again. He can play tight end in the NFL if he is healthy and would probably sign for close to the NFL minimum.

Safety Tashaun Gipson, and cornerback Joe Haden are looking for larger deals. Odell Beckham, Jr. is also still available, but not enough time has elapsed since the enormous difficulties he experienced with the Browns in 2021.