Cleveland Browns Rumors & News - Pro Football Rumors

Browns Eyeing WR Brandin Cooks

April 6th, 2022 at 7:00pm CST by Ben Levine

The Browns have considered pairing their new quarterback with his former wideout. According to Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com, the Browns have “contemplated” trading for Texans receiver Brandin Cooks.

Per Cabot, the Browns are “one of the multiple teams” to express interest in the veteran wide receiver. However, a trade between Cleveland and Houston is considered unlikely.

We previously heard that Cooks was on the trading block, and the Texans are reportedly seeking a second-round pick in return. The Browns already gave up a boatload of draft picks to acquire Deshaun Watson from the Texans, and if Cleveland’s front office is focused on keeping their few remaining picks, then Houston’s ask might price the Browns out of the Cooks sweepstakes. Further, Cook’s impending free agency next offseason means he could realistically be a one-year rental.

Of course, the asking price and the flight risk could still be worth it for a squad that’s looking to make a run in the postseason. Cooks is coming off back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons with the Texans; he has now posted four-digit receiving slates for four teams. The Browns have already acquired Amari Cooper this offseason, but their other receivers (including Donovan Peoples-Jones, Jakeem Grant, Anthony Schwartz, and Ja’Marcus Bradley) are unproven.

Browns Re-Sign K Chase McLaughlin

April 5th, 2022 at 10:51am CST by Adam La Rose

For the second day in a row, the Browns have made a move with respect to their special teams. The team announced on Tuesday that they have re-signed kicker Chase McLaughlin.

[RELATED: Browns Sign P Bojorquez]

McLaughlin originally entered the league when he signed with the Bills as a UDFA in 2019. He actually made his debut with the Colts, however, spending four games in Indianapolis. That was followed by another four contests with the Chargers, and three with the 49ers to end a busy rookie campaign.

The soon-to-be 26-year-old then found himself kicking for two new teams in 2020. He was with the Jaguars for three games, and the Jets for one more that year. Between his five stops prior to Cleveland, he made 22 of 28 field goal attempts, good for a success rate of 78.6%.

In Cleveland (who was awarded the Illinois alum off waivers), McLaughlin spent a full season with one team for the first time in the pros. He had a down year compared to his career averages, though, making 15 of 21 field goals (71.4%). He did, on the other hand, make all four of his kicks from beyond 50 yards, and only missed one of 37 extra point attempts.

With McLaughlin back in the fold, the Browns’ kicking unit appears set. They already have long snapper Charley Hughlett under contract for one more season, and added punter Corey Bojorquez yesterday.

Browns Sign P Corey Bojorquez

April 4th, 2022 at 12:56pm CST by Adam La Rose

The Browns have made an addition to their special teams. Cleveland announced on Monday that they have signed punter Corey Bojorquez.

Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal adds that the deal is for two years. Bojorquez originally came into the league with the Patriots as a UDFA in 2018, but it was with the Bills that he began his career that same year. The 25-year-old was in Buffalo for three seasons, including the 2020 campaign where he led the league in yards per punt with 50.8.

Bojorquez was then in a training camp battle with the Rams, which he ultimately lost to incumbent Johnny Hekker. As a result, Los Angeles traded him to the Packers. In 17 games with Green Bay, he once again held the distinction of owning the longest punt in the league at 82 yards. Overall, he averaged 46.5 yards on 53 punts.

While Green Bay’s overall special teams performance was among the worst in the league last year, many saw the individual play of Bojorquez himself (especially early in the season) as one of the unit’s bright spots. In Cleveland, he will replace Dustin Colquitt, making this the third straight year the Brows have a new punter. As Ulrich notes, the team still has work to do in the third phase, as they declined to tender RFA kicker Chase McLaughlin, leaving them with a vacancy at that position.

Deshaun Watson Could Be Suspended For Only Four Games; “No Market” For Baker Mayfield

April 3rd, 2022 at 10:36am CST by Rory Parks

We recently heard that new Browns QB Deshaun Watson would not end up on the Commissioner’s Exempt list since he will not be criminally charged in connection with the sexual assault allegations for which he is still facing 22 civil suits. And, as Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com writes, the absence of criminal charges may also help Watson avoid a lengthy suspension.

Per Cabot, league investigators will view the grand jury non-indictments as “mitigating factors” when it comes to doling out punishment to the embattled passer. A suspension may not be put in place until the civil matter is resolved — and Cleveland will not pressure Watson to settle the suits — but when the NFL’s investigation concludes and a decision is made, Cabot hears that Watson could be hit with a six-game ban that gets reduced to four games.

That would obviously count as a huge victory for the Browns, who gave up a bounty of draft capital and a market-altering contract to acquire Watson in a move that many pundits have classified as desperate. Winning, though, has a way of rewriting history, and if Watson escapes all of his legal troubles with only a four-game suspension (at least as far as on-field ramifications are concerned), Cleveland will have a very good chance of winning in 2022 and beyond.

Of course, the Browns are still rostering Baker Mayfield, an awkward reality that would become even more awkward if they are forced to retain him throughout the 2022 season. GM Andrew Berry recently said he would be willing to do so, but that surely is just a bit of posturing. Berry obviously wants to trade the former No. 1 overall pick, and he is content to wait until a starting quarterback on another club suffers an injury and creates a QB need for that club. According to Cabot, Berry may need to do just that, because there is “no market” for Mayfield at this point.

Still, Cabot says Berry does not want to give Mayfield away or include one of his own draft picks in a trade to entice another team to assume Mayfield’s contract. She writes that the plan remains to have newly-signed QB Jacoby Brissett, and not Mayfield, operate as the starting signal-caller in the event of a Watson suspension. The one-year deal that Brissett signed with the Browns last month has a base value of $4.65MM, almost all of which ($4.5MM) is guaranteed, as Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network tweets. Brissett will have a chance to earn more via incentives, including, perhaps, play-time incentives that could be realized if/when Brissett stands in for Watson.

One more item on Mayfield: his disenchantment with the Browns was intensified in the wake of a report that surfaced prior to the Watson trade indicating that the team was looking for “an adult” at the quarterback position (thus implying that Mayfield is not, in fact, an adult). Per team owner Jimmy Haslam, that comment did not come from the Cleveland front office (Twitter link via Jeff Schudel of the News-Herald).

Browns Won’t Push Deshaun Watson To Settle Suits

April 2nd, 2022 at 11:24am CST by Zachary Links

Deshaun Watson has a brand new team, but he still has 22 civil lawsuits to face. While other interested clubs wanted Watson to settle those suits before a potential trade, the Browns will not push him to do the same, as Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com writes.

“That’s up to them,’’ owner Jimmy Haslam said. “He feels very strongly that he did nothing wrong. We have confidence in Deshaun and his legal team. They’ll make good decisions.”

That’s been the position of Watson’s camp too — the quarterback maintains that his overall innocence and refuses to settle. The Browns — who have furnished Watson with a fully guaranteed $230MM contract — are on board with that plan.

In the meantime, the NFL will hold off on any possible suspension. The league office wants to avoid a situation where they levy a suspension, then have to adjust it later based on new information. Still, their own investigation continues – at least ten of the 22 women have filed suit against Watson have spoken with NFL officials.

Watson’s contract calls for just $1MM in base pay this year, which would limit any fines imposed against him. Most of Watson’s 2022 money has already been delivered / placed in escrow by way of his signing bonus.

While the Browns wait to see how that all shakes out, they’ll work to find a suitable trade for former starter Baker Mayfield.

Latest On Browns, Baker Mayfield

April 2nd, 2022 at 10:50am CST by Zachary Links

Now that the Browns have Deshaun Watson, they’re ready to move on from Baker Mayfield. Trading him, however, could be easier said than done. This week at the league meetings, Browns GM Andrew Berry told reporters that there’s a scenario in which Mayfield remains on the team in 2022.

“We feel like we have three good [quarterbacks], and a lot of teams are still looking for one guy, so you don’t mind being deep here,” Berry said (via ESPN.com). “Quarterbacks are valuable. Baker’s a good player and you can’t have enough good players on your roster. … So, we don’t really feel pressed to rush into anything that’s suboptimal.”

Teams likely have concerns about Mayfield’s injured left shoulder — a likely culprit in his down 2021. There’s also his contract, one that carries a fully-guaranteed $18.858MM this year. Meanwhile, interested clubs know that the Browns aren’t really looking to hang on to Mayfield as Watson’s backup, given the former first-round pick’s base salary and unwillingness to play second fiddle.

It’s unlikely that Mayfield will show for the Browns’ voluntary offseason program on April 19, according to Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com, but he could potentially be there for mandatory minicamp from June 14-16. Effectively, it’ll be a move by Mayfield to prevent a breach of contract.

It’s possible that the Browns could swing a trade sometime around draft weekend. In the meantime, Mayfield is busy throwing to a group of non-Browns players, including Cole Beasley, Danny Amendola, and Alex Bachman.

Browns, David Njoku Talking Extension

April 1st, 2022 at 9:57am CST by Zachary Links

The Browns and David Njoku are in active extension talks (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport). The two sides only have until July 15 to get a deal done, but all parties are confident that they’ll come to terms.

The Browns used the franchise tag on Njoku, choosing to cuff him despite also having Austin Hooper at the time. The 25-year-old (26 in July) could now command a deal worth upwards of $10MM — something the Browns are reportedly willing to do.

“I’ve been here (Cleveland) for four years going on five,” Njoku said last summer. “I don’t know anything different. I want to keep being here.”

For now, the Browns have Njoku at a $10.8MM cap figure in 2022, a number they hope to tamp down.

Njoku, a 2017 first-round pick, enjoyed his best year in 2018 when he notched 56 grabs for 639 yards and four majors. Despite not putting up eye-popping numbers during his five seasons with the team, he has ultimately shown a willingness to stick around. In 2021, Njoku finished with 36 catches for 475 yards and four touchdowns.

Haslam: Browns GM Proposed Fully Guaranteed Deshaun Watson Deal

March 30th, 2022 at 4:27pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Browns’ decision to make a major quarterback upgrade has generated multifront pushback, given Deshaun Watson‘s off-field trouble and the contract structure’s effect on other teams’ future QB negotiations. The fully guaranteed $230MM did not surface until late in the process.

Watson initially rejected the Browns, and Jimmy Haslam said third-year GM Andrew Berry approached him with a radical idea to put the team back in the mix for the Pro Bowl passer. Berry pitched the idea of a fully guaranteed contract to move the needle, Haslam said. The result: a five-year deal that saw the Browns break the NFL’s record for fully guaranteed money authorized by $80MM.

“I don’t how much Andrew knew,” Haslam said of other teams’ contract offers, via the Akron Beacon Journal’s Nate Ulrich. “First of all, I don’t know what’s accurate. [Berry] just said, ‘Would we consider fully guaranteeing it?’ OK. What’s that mean? When’s the money due? Do you do four versus five [years]. Can we make this work? And he got us comfortable with that.”

Although four teams were finalists for Watson, it appears just one was willing to go to this extreme place. Watson refusing to waive his no-trade clause for the Browns may well have centered on Cleveland’s weather compared to the three NFC South cities in this mix. Browns co-owner Dee Haslam said Wednesday she believed this was the case. While Berry’s fully guaranteed pitch is quite the step to convince a quarterback to play in northeast Ohio, Watson had three other teams pursuing him.

The Falcons were on the verge of landing the Atlanta-area native, appearing to finish second ahead of the Saints and Panthers in this unusual pursuit. The Panthers were not comfortable guaranteeing the final two years of Watson’s contract, Ulrich adds, and Arthur Blank did not make it sound like the Falcons were prepared to authorize this landmark guarantee, either. Blank said the Falcons were only doing due diligence when they met with Watson, though the team being later reported as on the verge of landing him would contradict the owner’s view of his team’s interest.

“You have to leave that to Jimmy and Dee Haslam, to make their own judgment,” Blank said, via USA Today’s Jarrett Bell. “The fact it’s $80MM above the highest contract ever given, guaranteed, in the history of the league, 102 years old, says a lot. Whether most teams in the NFL or any other team in the NFL would have committed to that contract, I don’t know. That certainly is a huge commitment.”

It is interesting contract matters played into these talks, considering Watson had only played one season on the $39MM-per-year deal he signed with the Texans in 2020. Technically, Watson was tied to that contract for two years, since Houston deactivated him throughout the 2021 season. But that Texans deal ran through 2025. Watson having a no-trade clause gave him considerable power, and the bidding war led to the Browns making an offer he could not refuse.

Latest On Potential Deshaun Watson Discipline

March 29th, 2022 at 7:16pm CST by Ben Levine

Two grand juries didn’t criminally charge Deshaun Watson with any crimes, but the Browns’ new quarterback still faces 22 civil lawsuits that will make him subject to discipline. Commissioner Roger Goodell said today that there’s no timetable on potential discipline for the QB, but he did keep the door open for a suspension, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter (on Twitter). Meanwhile, Charean Williams of ProFootballTalk.com relays that Watson will only be subject to a suspension under the Personal Conduct Policy, meaning the QB won’t land on the Commissioner Exempt List.

“The civil cases were in play over the last year,” Goodell said (via Williams). “The only thing that’s changed is the criminal element has been at least resolved, and that was an important element in the context of the Commissioner Exempt List as discussed with the Players Association. So that was an important (decision as it relates to the Commissioner Exempt List).

“If the criminal had proceeded, that more than likely would have triggered the Commissioner Exempt. I think at this point, the civil case in and of itself would not do that. If there’s a violation of the Personal Conduct Policy, that may trigger something, but that more than likely trigger some kind of discipline in some fashion.”

Watson still faces 22 civil lawsuits alleging sexual assault. We heard previously that the NFL was unlikely to act on a Watson suspension until his civil trials conclude. The league’s investigation is ongoing. Anticipating a suspension, the Browns previously reduced Watson’s 2022 base salary to $1MM, which will significantly limit the financial penalties the quarterback will face if/once the NFL’s ban is handed down.

Latest On Ravens’ Lamar Extension Effort

March 29th, 2022 at 6:55pm CST by Sam Robinson

Employing a quarterback who has largely not pushed for an extension, the Ravens continue to move toward an unusual place. Speaking with reporters for the first time in years, Steve Bisciotti is not certain Lamar Jackson will be extended before the season starts.

The longtime Ravens owner put the ball in Jackson’s court, indicating the fifth-year passer has not gone to GM Eric DeCosta and said he wants to proceed seriously on an extension. Jackson has said he wants to be a Raven for the rest of his career, but the self-represented QB made those comments during the 2021 offseason. No momentum has emerged toward an extension, despite talks beginning in April of last year.

“Unless he has a change of heart and calls Eric and says I’m ready. But it’s like, Eric can’t keep calling him and say, ‘Hey Lamar, you really need to get in here and get this thing done,'” Bisciotti said of the prospect of an extension occurring this offseason, via The Athletic’s Jeff Zrebiec (on Twitter).

The Ravens not extending Jackson before his fourth season pushes him toward Dak Prescott and Kirk Cousins territory. The latter used two franchise tags as a path out of Washington. Jackson has a longer road to completing Cousins’ strategy, with the fifth-year option delaying a potential two-tag route. Although the Ravens’ contract-year QB would not make it to free agency until 2025 via the Cousins blueprint, Bisciotti offering up a Cousins comparison Tuesday is certainly notable.

“Kirk Cousins did it that way. What if Lamar says that? I’ll play on the fifth-year, I’ll play on the franchise, I’ll play on another franchise and then you can sign me,” Bisciotti said, via ESPN.com’s Jamison Hensley. “And that gives me three years to win the Super Bowl so you can make me a $60MM quarterback, because that’s where it will be four years from now.

“That might be the case, but I don’t talk to Lamar. It’s not my role. I don’t know the answer.”

Cleveland’s Deshaun Watson contract has drawn scrutiny among owners and various personnel execs at this week’s meetings, CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora notes. It may change the game for quarterbacks. Watson’s off-field issues did not stop the Browns from greenlighting a fully guaranteed $230MM contract. This will certainly come up in every quarterback’s negotiation for the foreseeable future.

Cousins saw his first Vikings contract fully guaranteed four years ago, but Watson’s guarantee dwarfs that three-year, $84MM deal. The Ravens might not be ready to follow the Browns’ new QB blueprint. Jackson, 24, is two years younger than Watson and has the former Texans QB matched in Pro Bowls, with three. The 2019 MVP award stands as a rather key bullet point on Jackson’s resume as well, though the run-centric signal-caller’s style injects more risk into this equation for both sides. The issue of longevity stands to be part of these talks.

“It’s like, ‘Damn, I wish they hadn’t guaranteed the whole contract.’ I don’t know that he should’ve been the first guy to get a fully guaranteed contract,” Bisciotti said, via Zrebiec (Twitter links). “To me, that’s something that is groundbreaking, and it’ll make negotiations harder with others. But it doesn’t necessarily mean that we have to play that game, you know? We shall see.”

Teams with franchise QBs on the extension radar — like the Cardinals, Broncos and Bengals — will be monitoring the Ravens’ Jackson actions. For what it’s worth, Harbaugh remains confident (video link) Jackson will be extended. The recently extended HC has expressed this confidence for over a year. No Jackson extension or restructure by Week 1 will mean he starts the season on a $23MM fifth-year option salary.

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