6 Cleveland Browns who have played their final snap with franchise

With Week 18 in the books, it’s officially the offseason for the Cleveland Browns. As for these 6 players, they’re not likely to return in 2023.

The Cleveland Browns fell to 7-10 with a loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday. Now, they’re officially in offseason mode with a lot of questions to answer.

One of the major items on their “to-do” list will be figuring out what to do with upcoming free agents. Here, we look ahead to this portion of the offseason and identify six players who likely have played their final snaps for the Browns.

6 Cleveland Browns who have played their final snap with the franchise

6. Chris Hubbard, Offensive Lineman

During his five seasons in Cleveland, Chris Hubbard went from a frustrating free-agent addition to a trusted reserve and fan favorite. Following four years with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Hubbard signed with the Browns in 2018 as he followed offensive coordinator Todd Haley.

He started all 16 games that season at right tackle and played well in the second half of the year — after Haley and head coach Hue Jackson were jettisoned. In 2019, Hubbard regressed, as did left tackle Greg Robinson. And everyone else.

It seemed to be a certainty that he would be gone in 2020 but instead, he agreed to a new contract as general manager Andrew Berry kept him around on an affordable deal. That allowed Hubbard to serve as the top backup on the offensive line and he spent the year playing guard. And playing very well.

Sadly, he finished the season on IR and was there again in 2021. This year, he’s appeared in a few games but is highly unlikely to come back since he’s no longer the top option and has dealt with injuries two years in a row. Hubbard proved to be a great addition after all and plans to keep playing, but that will surely happen elsewhere.

5. Ronnie Harrison, Safety

When Grant Delpit suffered a torn Achilles in training camp during his rookie season, general manager Andrew Berry went to the trade market to find a replacement. For a mere fifth-round pick, he brought in Ronnie Harrison who spent the previous two seasons in Jacksonville.

A former third-round pick out of Alabama, Harrison proved to be well worth the investment that season. He did miss five games due to injury but still racked up 38 tackles, seven pass defenses, and had a pick-six.

The next season, things were different. Harrison had better numbers but his effectiveness waned. He surrendered nearly 100 more yards in coverage and Pro Football Reference has six touchdowns scored on him, which was a huge leap from the one he gave up in 2020.

A free agent this past offseason, it seemed as though Cleveland would go in a different direction but they never brought anyone else in. Eventually, they re-signed Harrison to a one-year deal, and while he hasn’t been torched in coverage as often, he also hasn’t seen the field nearly as much.

Near the end of the year, he was replaced by D’Anthony Bell making it all but a guarantee that he will be heading elsewhere in 2023. The only question is going to be how they replace him this year, because they didn’t seem to make it a priority in the previous offseason.

4. Greedy Williams, Cornerback

Time can change a lot of things, especially the opinion of a certain bubble-gum-chewing, trade-slinging madman in a grey sweater. John Dorsey was a breath of fresh air when he took over in 2018 and started to rebuild the Cleveland Browns roster.

He deserves some credit since he did help them turn the corner from a 1-31 stretch but he had a whole lot of whiffs. Baker Mayfield at No. 1 overall seemed to be the answer but now has been on three rosters this year alone. He also struck out in a huge way with Austin Corbett — who he took ahead of Nick Chubb — and Chad Thomas.

Then, there was the trade in 2019 when he added Odell Beckham, Jr. in exchange for a first and third-round pick and Jabril Peppers. The loss of a Round 1 pick stung until they landed Greedy Williams in the second round.

Williams was widely considered one of the best prospects at the position but teams were shying away from him. None of us asked why, we just cheered on ‘Buddy Boy’ as the greatest GM of all time.

Fast forward to 2023 and Williams has been a bit of a bust. Sure, he’s solid in coverage when he plays, but he missed time as a rookie as well as his entire second year. He’s really only had one healthy campaign and in all, has missed 28 games in his four seasons.

Cleveland has since added Greg Newsome and Martin Emerson and extended Denzel Ward. Williams isn’t going to be offered anything substantial — at all — and is likely headed elsewhere.

3. Jacoby Brissett, Quarterback

When the Browns signed Jacoby Brissett, everyone knew what his job would be. The veteran quarterback was there to hold the starting job down until Deshaun Watson could return. That happened after 11 games but Brissett won fans over before then.

Cleveland went just 4-7 with him as the starter as he completed 64 percent of his attempts for 2,608 yards with a 12-to-6 touchdown-to-interception ratio. He also became the king of fourth-down sneaks, something he continued to do even when Watson was back.

Now a free agent in 2023, Brissett is likely to hit the open market to see if there’s another team he could compete for a starting job with. Knowing that could be the case, he recently discussed his time in Cleveland and said he hopes that he was a good teammate — which was quickly confirmed by D’Ernest Johnson.

Brissett was easily one of the better quarterbacks to play in Cleveland since they returned in 1999. Having said that, he was never explosive but made very few mistakes. He simply ran the offense the way he was supposed to and put his team in a position to contend every week.

Unfortunately, the defense was struggling to find its footing for much of his tenure as five of the seven losses they suffered with Brissett starting came by a touchdown or less.

Having said all that, Brissett would be welcome back with open arms as the No. 2 quarterback but the chances are high that he did enough to earn a shot at being a bridge starter in 2023.

2. Jadeveon Clowney, EDGE

It was already pretty much assured Jadeveon Clowney was going to be playing elsewhere in 2023 but he made that very clear ahead of their final game. Clowney, who was playing on his second one-year deal was far less effective than he was in 2021.

He decided to speak on that and blamed the slip in production on the coaching staff and even Myles Garrett. Clowney said that the goal was clearly to help Garrett get into the Hall of Fame, so they moved him around to get favorable matchups and in doing so, put stats over winning. He did say the two had no issues but threw a dig when he said he was 95 percent sure he would leave. Nice random number, sir.

As if that wasn’t enough, he then claimed the Browns had favorites, saying they have their own guys. Somehow, Clowney feels as though he’s not in that clique despite being pursued in free agency three years in a row by Andrew Berry — turning them down in 2020 and only joining in both 2021 and 2022 when all other options were exhausted.

The front office was bothered by his words as Clowney was sent home from practice on Friday and ended up being left off the active roster in Week 18.

He has all the talent needed to be a great defensive end but it seems he never puts it all together consistently and always has someone to point the finger at.

1. Kareem Hunt, Running Back

There was a time when it looked as though the Cleveland running game was going to produce two 1,000-yard runners with Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt. Back in 2020, Chubb finished with 1,067 yards and Hunt — who was in the first year of a three-year extension — had 841 yards.

While they came close, 2021 was expected to be the season that happened. Unfortunately, Hunt missed nine games and ended the year with just 386 yards. The offense did seem to miss his explosiveness and Hunt tried to parlay that into an extension this season.

When that didn’t happen, he requested a trade and the Browns said no. However, despite a great game in Week 1, the former league-leading rusher never got rolling as he did in 2020 despite being healthy.

This led to Cleveland reportedly seeking a trade partner at the deadline, but there was no interest from other teams despite a minimal asking price.

He went on to finish the season with Cleveland but continued to struggle to find his footing. He ended the year with plenty of single-digit outputs and wasn’t breaking tackles as he did early in his career.

Sadly, this is the life of an NFL running back as they get abused more than most positions and start to break down earlier due to that. Perhaps Hunt will find the fountain of youth and get back to what he was early in his career, but he’s going to have to get that chance with another franchise as the Browns will head into 2023 with Chubb and Jerome Ford as their new one-two punch.

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