It came as no surprise to see the Cleveland Browns shuffle their roster around after the initial wave of cuts last week. It was to be expected from a team that is young and rebuilding. One move they made, however, defies conventional wisdom in just about every way.
When the Browns signed cornerback Noah Igbinoghene, the immediate ripple effect was having to release undrafted free agent darling Michael Coats Jr. Now, Coats Jr. was excellent in training camp and the preseason contests, but that by itself is no guarantee that it will translate to the regular season. To move him down to the practice squad for a veteran who has never particularly excelled in his NFL career, though? That's senseless.
The Browns are at the perfect stage to embrace the youth movement and find players who can help them in 2026 and beyond. They may theoretically be able to get marginally better with veteran free agents at a few positions, but what good does that really do? It's hard to see Igbinoghene even surviving the full season on the active roster, much less sticking around for more than a year.
The Browns' questionable cornerback decision doesn't pass the smell test
Noah Igbinoghene was a first-round draft pick of the Miami Dolphins in 2020. After three years of uneven play, Miami cut its losses and sent him to the Dallas Cowboys in exchange for another disappointing cornerback, Kelvin Joseph. Igbinoghene wound up being inactive for 12 games and seeing most of his action on special teams for the Cowboys.
He has spent the past two seasons with the Washington Commanders, with troubling results. For his six-year career, he has never had a Pro Football Focus grade that exceeded 55.6 (in 2025). What's more, he's allowed bloated passer ratings north of 93.0 in five of his six seasons, save for the 2022 season when he allowed a solid 77.1. Coincidentally, the Dolphins gave up on him that year anyway.
Relatively speaking, Igbinoghene isn't some insane athlete worthy of reclamation. He's a good athlete — his Relative Athletic Score of 8.04 ranks 498th out of 3,072 cornerback prospects since 1987. He will likely contribute on special teams, as he has 600 snaps of experience doing it. It's just difficult to reconcile that with moving Coats Jr. to the practice squad when he seemingly possesses more upside.
As fate would have it, Igbinoghene (26) is only 19 months older than Coats Jr. (25). This fact illustrates both how young Igbinoghene was when he was drafted, and the winding road Coats Jr. traveled to get here. It's still enough of a difference that one could reasonably wonder why Andrew Berry felt the need to go this route.
Coats Jr. put up otherworldly metrics in limited preseason action against the Chicago Bears and Buffalo Bills. In fact, his 83.7 PFF grade ranked second among Browns defenders. He allowed a rub-your-eyes-to-believe-it 2.8 passer rating in his coverage area. While fans were excited to see how that translated to the games that count, it seems they'll all have to wait.
If Andrew Berry plays around too long, there's a chance Michael Coats Jr. will be poached by another franchise. Wouldn't that just be the most Cleveland thing imaginable?
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