The writing has been on the wall for Cleveland Browns veteran running back Jerome Ford well before the 2025 NFL campaign began. Since late April, when the team double-dipped at his position and drafted Ohio State's Quinshon Judkins and Tennessee's Dylan Sampson, to be exact.
Cleveland placed Ford on injured reserve with a shoulder issue on Dec. 9, effectively ending his season — and presumably his time with the Browns.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see Ford has been falling out of favor in Cleveland for a while. He took a backseat to Judkins and Sampson and was mentioned as a potential trade candidate ahead of this year's deadline before getting shut down.
The next step is letting him walk, which is merely a formality at this point.
Browns RB Jerome Ford may have already played his final snap in Cleveland
Ford is currently in the fourth and final year of his rookie deal and will be an unrestricted free agent in the coming months. He was relegated to being the third option in the Browns' backfield, so it’s easy to envision him searching for a new home; presumably, a landing spot with a greater need for his services.
Slowly but surely, Ford ceded early-down work to Judkins and the pass-catching role to Sampson. In turn, the 2022 fifth-round pick's playing time dipped as the season progressed. His 21.7 offensive snap percentage from Week 7 through Week 14 is a far cry from the 40.1 percent rate across Cleveland's first six games, per Fantasy Points' data suite.
You'd think the Browns would've tried to find alternative, creative ways to use Ford to counteract his dwindling opportunities with the ball. Deploying him as a returner seemed like a logical pivot. He has the speed and explosiveness to make an impact in the third and most underappreciated facet of football.
Nevertheless, Ford fielded just 13 kickoffs and zero punts. That’s a clear indictment of Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski, who's also on the outs with the franchise, albeit for vastly different reasons.
There will be a market for Ford, one the Browns ostensibly don't have interest in entertaining. Alas, he'll conceivably go out hurt and as an afterthought, marking an unceremonious end to what has been a pleasantly surprising tenure with Cleveland.