For too many years, the Browns' struggles could be explained simply enough. They just didn't have the horses to compete consistently in the AFC North race and beyond on a year-to-year basis. While it's fair to hold Andrew Berry and Co. accountable for just how barren the cupboard ultimately got, it's also impossible to miss the remarkable job he's done replenishing the roster with blue-chip talent.
One way to identify a talented team is to take a look at their free agents. The good-to-great teams have a hard time retaining their players and draft picks. Call it the price of success. They draft well, so they can't afford to keep everyone. Meanwhile, less fortunate teams are poaching their draft hits in free agency to try to create their own triumph.
When studying the Browns' expiring contracts from the 2025 season, you'll find that they had the league's 10th-most impending free agents with 26. That represents nearly half of the active roster.
What's telling, though, is that as of late May, 12 of those players still remain on the market. It paints an unflattering picture of the 2025 Cleveland Browns, while simultaneously providing a tangible explanation for the team's 5-12 record — not enough talent.
The sheer number of 2025 Browns still looking for work proves the team badly needed to get younger and better
With 46 percent of their free agents still available, the Browns rank seventh in the league in this regard. Of the top 10 teams with the highest percentage of 2025 free agents still unsigned — Bills, Commanders, Raiders, Texans, Cowboys, Patriots, Dolphins, Browns, Giants, Steelers — only four of them made the playoffs last year.
Conversely, of the 10 teams that have the lowest percentage of remaining free agents — Seahawks, Bengals, Packers, Broncos, Eagles, Bears, Jets, Panthers, Titans, Buccaneers — six of them made the postseason. The takeaway is clear: playoff teams feature good players. When such teams need to make decisions on who sticks around in the offseason, they're much more likely to be raided for talent than teams that finished near the top of the draft.
As we spin forward, it's a good sign that the Browns are not leaning on familiarity and rushing to bring back players who "contributed" to the team's poor record last year. Instead of trotting out the known commodity, the prudent approach is to try something different. By adding 10 rookies and nine outside free agents, Andrew Berry is doing just that.
The Browns have quietly been closing the gap between themselves and the NFL's "haves." Each player who remains on the street once the games begin to count, as harsh as it may sound, represents a player no longer good enough to play in the league. There should never be any shame in someone seeing themselves phased out. They made it. They're in the 1 percent that reached football's grandest stage.
For the Browns to reach the heights their fans crave so desperately, they need to continue to hoard talent. Once Cleveland is faced with the champagne problems of having to be selective about which talent to retain, they've officially made it.
For a fan base that's had nothing but problems, champagne ones sound pretty good right about now.
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