4 pending free agents the Cleveland Browns will gladly let walk

While we are still more than a month away from NFL free agency, and more than six weeks away from the 2024 NFL Draft, there's no doubt that Andrew Berry has already begun planning the Cleveland Browns roster. It’s just a part of the game that each year you are going to lose a handful of guys that were big parts of the team.

The good news for the Browns this offseason, there are only two positions that will be greatly affected (defensive end and defensive tackle), but there are certainly some big names that could be moving on. Za’Darius Smith, Shelby Harris, Maurice Hurst, Anthony Walker, Jacob Phillips, and Kareem Hunt are the biggest known names, but guys like Mike Ford and Jordan Kunaszyk who are high performers on special teams are also free to shop for offers.

While seeing some of these players depart from Cleveland will be sad, I won’t be so upset to see these four players move on.

Cleveland Browns FA No. 4: Marquise Goodwin/Jakeem Grant

I typically wouldn’t lump two players together like this, but for this situation, it felt appropriate.  Marquise Goodwin was considered a deep threat, while Jakeem Grant was brought in for the return game. At the time both seemed like very low-risk and high-reward contracts, but neither one of these guys was even close to panning out.

Both dealt with injuries last year which limited the sample size, but both have injury history which makes the original singing of them that much more frustrating. For the most part, I love and agree 100 percent with the strategy of Berry, but he certainly is optimistic about guys who are always hurt magically not getting hurt anymore. 

There will be plenty of veterans who can attempt to fill the same void next year, but I’ll be glad to not see Goodwin or Grant on the injury report next season.