The Browns entered the offseason with no healthy quarterbacks other than Dorian Thompson-Robinson. They faced a bind with the salary cap, forcing them to jettison former high-priced free agents Dalvin Tomlinson and Juan Thornhill. While these moves provided some immediate relief, they came with the price of pushing more cap commitments into future years.
Ultimately, the Browns were only able to sign one player to a contract with an average annual value of more than $5 million in free agency, that was defensive lineman Maliek Collins, who signed a 2 year, $20 million contract.
Outside of Collins, the Browns went bargain shopping in free agency. Their acquisitions included quarterback Joe Flacco (1 year, $4.25 million), EDGE Joe Tryon (1 year, $4.755 million), offensive tackle Cornelius Lucas (2 years, $6.5 million), and guard Teven Jenkins (1 year, $3.05 million). The rest of their acquisitions came at or around league minimum for their experience level.
Then, in the 2025 NFL Draft, the Browns added six rookies: defensive tackle Mason Graham, linebacker Carson Schwesinger, running back Quinshon Judkins, tight end Harold Fannin Jr., quarterback Dillon Gabriel, running back Dylan Sampson, and quarterback Shedeur Sanders.
PFF gives Browns a C offseason grade
This haul of additions led Trevor Sikkema of Pro Football Focus to give the Browns an underwhelming 'C' for their efforts. It would be difficult to argue this grade, and it likely would've been much worse if the Browns had lost more talent.
"Securing Mason Graham and an extra first-round pick in 2026 via their draft-day trade-down with the Jaguars was a solid move, but missing on Travis Hunter was the price paid. Cleveland's quarterback room is still a mess, and the team didn’t do anything to get ahead of a potential mass exodus from the offensive line over the next two years. That unit earned just a 59.8 PFF overall grade last season."Trevor Sikkema
Sikkema gave a mixed reaction to the Browns' decision to squander their opportunity at two-way dynamo Travis Hunter, acquiring a future first-round pick in the process. The view here is that it was unquestionably the right move, albeit a painful one. When the Browns made this trade, it became clear they didn't view any of this year's quarterback class as franchise material (outside of maybe Cam Ward). They instead loaded up for next year, where they can find their quarterback of the future.
Another concern raised was that of the Browns' offensive line. The group features players like Joel Bitonio (7x Pro Bowl, 2x All-Pro), Jack Conklin (2x All-Pro), Wyatt Teller (3x Pro Bowl), and Ethan Pocic. The issue isn't the talent, it's the contract situations and arguably, more importantly, the age.
When the Browns kick off the season on September 7 against the Bengals, Bitonio will be 33, Conklin will be 31, and Teller and Pocic will be 30. Additionally, all of them, save for Conklin, have contracts that expire after the upcoming season. The Browns could have chosen to invest in the offensive line with some youth in the event that these franchise stalwarts move on next season.
Instead, the Browns doubled up at quarterback and running back in the Draft. Without new contracts, the Browns' offensive line will only have Jack Conklin, Cornelius Lucas, Zak Zinter, Dawand Jones, Luke Wypler, and current undrafted rookies Dartanyan Tinsley and Jason Ivey under contract for next season.
Suffice it to say, a group that has been a strength in Cleveland for several years, as Sikkema cautions, could become a glaring weakness in a hurry.