Based on the initial 53-man roster of each NFL roster this season, the Cleveland Browns ranked middle of the pack in average age per player, at 26.15 years old. A major factor was a Week 1 starting offensive line that featured four players on the wrong side of 30.
That really is an amazing stat, though, when you consider that the Browns deployed rookies at one of the highest rates in the league in 2025. Linebacker Carson Schwesinger and defensive tackle Mason Graham were lineup fixtures. In the second half of the season, the Browns often had Shedeur Sanders, Quinshon Judkins, Harold Fannin Jr., and Isaiah Bond together in the offensive huddle.
Highest rookie snap share during the 2025 season, per @NextGenStats...
— NFL Researcher (@NFL_Researcher) January 8, 2026
1. Titans - 26.3%
2. Browns - 25.7%
3. Patriots - 21.1%
4. Jets - 20.7%
5. Texans - 20.6%
6. Saints - 17.8%
7. Raiders - 17.5%
That treasure trove of young talent helped the Browns stay competitive enough in 2025. Sure, the season was ugly on balance, and they only won five games. But they also lost four games by a combined total of 10 points; it would have been so much worse if not for the sudden emergence of guys like Schwesinger and Fannin from Day 1.
If anything, Cleveland’s rookie class saved general manager Andrew Berry and the rest of the front office their jobs. The Browns ranked 27th in the NFL in cash spent on 2025 free agents, due mostly to the salary cap crunch the team still finds itself dealing with a year later.
Per Spotrac, the Browns ranked second in the league in total salary cap allocations, with over 20 percent of that spending… resulting in some brutal ROI.
The contracts that quietly crippled Cleveland’s 2025 season
QB Deshaun Watson
- 2025 cap hit: $36M
- 2025 total cash: $46M
Watson’s contract was looking like an albatross back during the 2024 season, when the Browns got off to a 1-6 start. It was doubly bad in 2025, with Watson missing the entire season due to a twice ruptured Achilles tendon. He still accounted for 13 percent of Cleveland’s 2025 salary cap number, per Spotrac, and currently carries an NFL record $80.7 million cap hit for 2026. It’s the blunder that just keeps on bludgeoning the Browns.
TE David Njoku
- 2025 cap hit: $11.5M
- 2025 total cash: $15.25M
Njoku has been an excellent player for the Cleveland Browns over the balance of his nine-year career, but 2025 could prove to be an unfortunate capstone. He only played in 12 games due to injuries, but his production in those games — 33 receptions, 293 yards and four TDs — was a major step back from previous years. He was also passed on the depth chart by Fannin, all while carrying the sixth-highest cap hit on the team in 2025.
WR Jerry Jeudy
- 2025 cap hit: $8M
- 2025 total cash: $16M
Jeudy was a Pro Bowler in 2024, but he was among the Browns’ biggest disappointments this year. He led the team — and most of the NFL — in drops with nine, per Pro Football Focus, and had easily the worst statistical performance of his career, catching just 50 of his 106 targets for 602 yards and just two touchdowns.
Erratic QB play might’ve been a factor, but it’s not an excuse: Fannin outproduced Jeudy across the board. Jeudy wound up making $320,000 per reception for the Browns this past season, a brutal look for a front office that trusted him as the sure-fire WR1 on the depth chart. That will definitely be changing in 2026.
LT Cam Robinson
- 2025 cap hit: $3M
- 2025 total cash: $2.5M
The good news for the Browns is that the Houston Texans paid the brunt of Robinson’s salary this season. The bad news is that the Browns played 12 games with Robinson as their starting left tackle in 2025.
The 30-year-old has been one of the most inefficient tackles in football over the past few years, but to his credit, he continues to be teams’ last-gasp solution as an injury replacement. The Browns wound up trading for Robinson early in the season after Dawand Jones’ season-ending knee injury; the Minnesota Vikings did the exact same thing in 2024, dealing for Robinson after star left tackle Christian Darrisaw went down with a midseason ACL tear. Robinson wasn’t very good for the Vikings, and he wasn’t good for the Browns this year, either. He was their fifth-lowest graded offensive player, per PFF, and led the team in both pressures and sacks allowed, and penalties.
For Browns fans, it’s on to 2026. It can only go up from here, right?