One and Done: First year Browns players that didn’t earn a second season
By John Suchan
Browns TEs Pharaoh Brown and Jesse James
If nothing else, both Pharaoh Brown and Jesse James have cool names, but neither tight end did enough this season with Cleveland to have the team bring them back next year. Brown had been in Cleveland in the past and was a late signing in October of this past year. James had played in Pittsburgh with the Steelers and also spent time with the Detroit Lions.
James only played in two games with the Browns this past season and never recorded a catch. He cost them a little over $1 million but produced nothing.
Brown signed with Cleveland after he started the season with the Houston Texans.
In Cleveland, he actually got five starts mostly due to when David Njoku and Harrison Bryant were injured. He finished with five catches for 45 yards for the Browns. Despite the fill-in role, Cleveland will likely look to draft another tight end or pick up a different one in free agency going into the 2023 season.
Cleveland has two tight ends in David Njoku and Harrison Bryant that are primary targets in the team’s offense. While Njoku is the assumed leader of the pack, one never knows when that next injury strikes, so the Browns would be wise to invest either in a draft pick and get a player like Dalton Kincaid or pick up a free agent tight end like Irv Smith Jr. from the Minnesota Vikings.
He was once coached by the Browns’ current head coach Kevin Stefanski when he was still coaching with the Vikings.
