Browns cut rookie lineman in baffling move that has fans livid

An alarming trend during this spiraling Cleveland Browns season has been the state of the offensive line — as in, who does the team even have left to take reps during games?

The Browns’ starting five for young quarterback Shedeur Sanders this past Sunday in Chicago was about as close to a worst-case scenario as it gets in the NFL.

Cleveland opened the game with journeyman Cam Robinson at left tackle, Joel Bitonio at left guard, Luke Wypler at center, Teven Jenkins at right guard, and KT Leveston at right tackle. Rookie Garrett Dellinger entered the game as the backup center and wound up spelling Jenkins after he left the game with a shoulder issue. Every one of those linemen, outside of Bitonio, either joined the team late or opened the season in a reserve role.

A rash of injuries have put Cleveland in a rough spot, but you could make an easy case that general manager Andrew Berry made this bed. The Browns opted to pass on drafting an offensive lineman in the 2025 NFL Draft, instead doubling up at running back and quarterback. 

They entered this year’s season opener with the 24-year-old Dawand Jones switching sides to left tackle. The rest of the line was made up of aging veterans — Jack Conklin, Ethan Pocic,  Wyatt Teller and Bitonio — on expiring contracts. That the team’s been constantly juggling its front five, outside of a small stretch in the middle of the season, is hardly surprising to Browns fans.

But with a patchwork offensive line comes consequences. Team leadership is currently evaluating Sanders as a potential long-term option, but he’s facing pressure on an inordinate amount of his drop-backs over his four starts.

Sanders could help his own cause by getting the ball out faster, but the O-line problems extend to the running game, too. Rookie Quinshon Judkins was once on pace for a 1,000-yard season. He isn’t anymore, after gaining just 47 total yards on 26 carries over Cleveland’s last two games.

The underlying issue here is painfully obvious, which is why Cleveland’s latest roster move has fans utterly confused (and some kind of livid).

Browns’ decision to release rookie Garrett Dellinger creates more questions than answers

Prior to last week’s game in Chicago, the Browns added Dellinger, who had been on their practice squad since August, to the 53-man roster to add much-needed depth up front. To make room, the team waived wide receiver Jamari Thrash, a somewhat surprising move at the time, as Thrash was a fifth-round pick of the Browns in the 2024 draft.

Cleveland ended up needing Dellinger in the Bears game. He played 29 snaps at right guard in relief of Jenkins, and seemed to outplay the 2021 second-round pick. Per Pro Football Focus, Dellinger allowed just one pressure and one QB hit in 23 pass-blocking reps, and was the site’s highest graded Browns O-lineman overall. 

So, naturally, at a time when the Browns are struggling to find healthy bodies all over the offensive line, they waived Dellinger on Tuesday — to re-sign Thrash back to the 53-man roster. The team most likely planned to sneak Dellinger back onto their practice squad, but he didn’t clear waivers. The 2-12 Tennessee Titans, of all teams, submitted a claim for Dellinger, and he’s now headed to Nashville for the final three weeks of 2025.

Why risk losing a 23-year-old lineman you’ve been working with all season? That’s a great question, and Browns fans have the right to be annoyed, given the current state of the team. The most logical explanation is that Zak Zinter, Cleveland’s exciting third-round pick out of Michigan in 2024, is finally ready to get on the field; he’s only played six offensive snaps this season, per PFF, and was inactive this past Sunday with a back issue.

Either way, the Browns probably shouldn’t be cutting young offensive linemen right now, given how thin their depth chart has become. It’s just the latest head-scratching development in what has been one of the weirdest Browns seasons in recent memory.