Browns Officially Re-Sign Rashard Higgins
The Browns have re-signed Rashard Higgins, per a club announcement. The wide receiver will return on a one-year deal, giving him an opportunity to prove himself before trying his hand in free agency next year. 
Higgins came into the league as a fifth-round pick of the Browns and he’ll return to Cleveland for his fifth pro season. Over the past four years, he’s tallied 76 catches for 1,016 yards and seven touchdowns. Those numbers don’t jump off the page, necessarily, but he did shine in 2018 when he finished out with 39 grabs for 572 yards and four scores.
Last year, a knee injury kept him from building on that performance, but a healthy season could put him back on the right track. Most of Baker Mayfield‘s targets will be going to the likes of Odell Beckham Jr., Jarvis Landry, and new addition Austin Hooper, but Higgins could benefit from the double teams against those stars.
In addition to Landry and OBJ, the Browns’ WR depth chart also features JoJo Natson and sixth-round rookie Donovan Peoples-Jones. Higgins is the longest-tenured player of the group.
In a corresponding move, the Browns have also waived defensive tackle Brandin Bryant.
Eagles, Ravens Interested In Jadeveon Clowney?
A number of teams have been connected in some way or another to free agent edge rusher Jadeveon Clowney over the course of the past several months. The Eagles and Ravens are two such teams, but while there was plenty of speculation linking Clowney to those clubs, there were no concrete reports on that front. However, Mark Berman of Fox 26 KRIV may have changed that last night.
Per Berman’s sources, Philadelphia and Baltimore are among the teams expressing interest in Clowney’s services (Twitter link). Of course, the degree of their interest is unclear, and it’s possible that those clubs are simply keeping tabs on Clowney in case he falls into a certain price range or in case something should happen to one of their other pass rushers. Nonetheless, the “addition” of two Super Bowl hopefuls to the market is notable and will certainly be welcomed by Clowney himself.
The Ravens’ edge rushing contingent is headed by the franchise-tagged Matt Judon, but we do not know where the two sides stand in their negotiations of a long-term pact, and Judon has been rumored as a trade candidate. Although Baltimore’s cap space as it presently stands would seem to preclude a Clowney signing without restructuring the contracts of other players, the team could theoretically trade Judon for quality draft capital and allocate his cap charge to Clowney. The Ravens did re-sign Pernell McPhee just yesterday, and while McPhee can certainly be useful as a rotational pass rusher, his presence will hardly stop GM Eric DeCosta from pursuing Clowney if he believes there’s a fit.
Meanwhile, a pass rusher is arguably the Eagles’ biggest remaining need. Philadelphia has enough salary cap room to fit Clowney into the roster this year, but the club has a lot of work to do with respect to its 2021 cap, especially if the cap should decline as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. So any rollover money the Eagles can carry from 2020 into 2021 will be hugely beneficial. On the other hand, if GM Howie Roseman thinks Clowney can help get his team back to the promised land this year, then his 2021 cap situation will not stop him from pulling the trigger.
Berman also notes that the Titans and Browns are very much in the mix for Clowney, though their interest has been well-documented. In addition, the No. 1 overall pick of the 2014 draft has not ruled out a return to the Seahawks.
“I hope we can work something out if anything happens,” Clowney said. “I did like it up there. … I love all the guys I played with. … I love Seattle. … I love everyone on the coaching staff” (Twitter link via Berman).
Consistent with what we heard last week, Clowney said he is willing to wait to sign until interested clubs can bring him in for a physical. “I know what’s going on in the world,” Clowney said. “It’s a slow process until teams can see me and see what I got and can give me physicals. I’m just waiting on the right opportunity” (Twitter link via Berman).
Those comments were the first Clowney has made publicly since the end of the 2019 season, and he has been working out at a gym in Houston four days a week since undergoing core muscle surgery (Twitter link via Berman). He says he is fully recovered from his injury, but to get the payday he wants, he will likely need to wait until teams can make that determination for themselves.
Browns Execs On Garrett, Vernon, OBJ
Even after the initial waves of free agency and the NFL Draft, the Browns’ work is far from done, GM Andrew Berry says.
“We have four or five months until the fall until we start playing games and then probably another six (weeks) until the trade deadline, so there are plenty of opportunities to continue to improve the roster and we’re going to be on the lookout for that over the next few months again if opportunities present themselves,’’ Berry told SiriusXM recently (via Mary Kay Cabot of The Plain Dealer). “We’re always going to look to be opportunistic across the roster and if there’s something that makes sense, we’ll see if we can attack and improve the team.’’
With lots of notable names left in free agency and on the trade block, Berry has lots of options. Could those options include a certain former No. 1 overall pick? Here’s what Berry and head coach Kevin Stefanski have to say about that and more, via Cabot:
Berry on Olivier Vernon, whose presence could take the Browns out of the Jadeveon Clowney running:
“Olivier is a good football player, and we like having good football players on the roster. He’s a talented defensive end. He is here and will continue to be here.”
Berry on a potential extension for Myles Garrett, who had his fifth-year option exercised for 2021:
“We do see Myles as a long-term member and pillar in our organization. Great player, great person. Obviously, he did make a mistake last year that he’s learned from. But our confidence in and faith in Myles has not wavered and we’re looking to seeing what he does this year and certainly for years to come.’’ (via 105.7 The Fan)
Stefanski on Odell Beckham Jr., who is firmly in the team’s plans:
“We’re a better team with him on the field…Odell is one of the guys I was fortunate enough to sit down with before all this stuff kind of went sideways, so we sat down and talked about a bunch of things. One of the things we talked about is how he’s going to factor in this offense, and I showed him a bunch of tape from the previous Vikings year, I showed him tape from his Giants years, and just my vision for what he’s going to be capable of doing in this offense.” (via 92.3 The Fan)
Browns GM: We’re Keeping OBJ
Maybe the trade rumors Odell Beckham Jr. finally quiet down now. Believe him or not, Browns GM Andrew Berry says the wide receiver will be a “long-term member” of the organization. 
“With all due respect to the question, I think this is actually a topic, at least from our perspective, there really hasn’t been a ton of ambiguity,” Berry told NFL Network. “We’ve been clear from the beginning that we view Odell as a fantastic player. We’re a better team with him on the field. We see him as a long-term member of the organization. We really like how he’s acclimated and adjusted with the new staff. So the rumors, that’s not something that we can control, but we’re happy to have him as a part of our organization.”
Beckham clashed with Freddie Kitchens last year, but he was far from the only player to butt heads with the coach. Between OBJ and Kitchens, only one of them made it to Year 2 in Cleveland – the new regime has spent the last few months shooting down trade speculation about the star receiver and Berry’s latest comments are his strongest yet.
Relatively speaking, OBJ fell flat last year. Still, he pulled off 74 catches for 1,035 yards and four touchdowns. Quirks and all, Beckham is one of the most talented offensive weapons in the NFL and the Browns have every reason to make things work.
The latest round of speculation pegged Beckham for the Vikings. The Browns flatly denied any talks with the Vikes and we’re inclined to believe them. After moving on from Stefon Diggs for salary and personality reasons, it would have made little sense to replace him with Beckham.
“In short, I will just say it was completely false,” executive Paul DePodesta told reporters earlier this month. “It’s a frustrating a little bit. I think it is pretty clear we are trying to build at this point…The idea that we would take away from that core at this moment just does not make a whole lot of sense and is not really something that we are exploring at all.”
Five Teams Tried To Claim Austin Calitro
Austin Calitro is a popular guy. The Broncos, Browns, Jets, and Raiders all tried to claim the linebacker after he was waived by the Jaguars, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets. Ultimately, they all lost out to the Bengals, who had the league’s worst record last year and top priority on the waiver wire.
[RELATED: Bengals Claim Samaje Perine]
The Bengals were happy to welcome Calitro, who suited up in 13 games (including four starts) for the Jaguars last year. He’s got a solid chance of making the roster, where he could see his time split between defense and special teams. If he doesn’t make the cut, it’s a safe bet that at least a couple of these clubs will come calling.
Last year, Calitro registered 40 tackles and a sack while serving as a key special teams contributor for Jacksonville. Over the last two years, he’s logged 432 snaps in the third facet of the game.
Browns To Re-Sign WR Rashard Higgins
The Browns are expected to re-sign wide receiver Rashard Higgins, per Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com. It will be a one-year, $910K deal for the 25-year-old.
We heard back in March that Cleveland was likely to let Higgins test the open market but was interested in re-signing him if the price was right. Cabot says the Colorado State product received more lucrative offers from other clubs, but he elected to re-up with the Browns because he loves playing with quarterback Baker Mayfield.
The Browns selected Higgins in the fifth round of the 2016 draft, and after setting career highs in 2018 with 39 receptions for 572 yards and four touchdowns, he appeared primed for a key role in 2019 behind star wideouts Jarvis Landry and Odell Beckham. Unfortunately, he battled knee injuries early in the 2019 campaign and fell out of favor with prior head coach Freddie Kitchens upon his return. He ultimately caught just four passes for 55 yards and a score.
But with a new regime in place, Higgins will presumably have a good chance to rebuild his value. He will compete with sixth-round rookie Donovan Peoples-Jones and returning pieces like Damion Ratley for playing time.
Browns To Exercise Options On Myles Garrett, David Njoku
The Browns will exercise their fifth-year options on defensive end Myles Garrett and tight end David Njoku, according to Mary Kay Cabot of The Plain Dealer (on Twitter). With that, both players will remain under club control through the 2021 season. 
The Browns have opted to stay the course with Garrett – the former No. 1 overall pick – despite his role in last year’s brawl against the Steelers. Now reinstated, Garrett will look to build off of the progress he made pre-suspension.The Texas A&M product managed ten sacks in just ten games last season. Had he played a full season, he likely would have shattered his previous watermark of 13.5 sacks from 2018. All in all, he’s got 30.5 sacks, the highest total of any Browns player within the first three years of their career.
Njoku’s decision was actually a tricker one for the Browns since they’ve added Austin Hooper in free agency. Njoku missed the bulk of the 2019 season thanks to a wrist injury and the fifth-year option is guaranteed for injury only (next year, that will change, thanks to the new CBA). Before that, the tight end enjoyed a breakout 2018 campaign as he recorded 56 catches for 539 yards and four touchdowns. For comparison: Hooper is a two-time Pro Bowler coming off of his best season ever.
Browns Trade Pick No. 74 To Saints, New Orleans Takes Zack Baun
The Saints reportedly were looking to trade up in the second-round, and they just moved up in the third. They’ve acquired the 74th pick from the Browns, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets.
Cleveland is also sending the 244th pick in the seventh-round, while they’ll get back number 88 and a 2021 third-rounder. As Yates notes in his tweet, this is the first time in this draft that a 2021 selection has changed hands. New Orleans’ willingness to give up future draft capital makes sense, given they’ve been heavily signaling that they’re going all in on one last Super Bowl run with Drew Brees in 2020.
They’ve signed some aging vets, and are trying to get as much out of this draft as possible. The Saints used the 74th pick to take linebacker Zack Baun from Wisconsin, who some thought had a good chance of getting drafted in the first-round. Linebacker had been a relative position of weakness for New Orleans, which explains why they wanted to move up to get the surprising faller. As a senior with the Badgers Baun had 19.5 tackles for loss and 12.5 sacks, earning first-team All-Big 10 honors.
Browns Take LSU S Grant Delpit At No. 44
Grant Delpit is off the board. With the No. 44 pick, the Browns grabbed the standout LSU safety. 
The Browns fortified safety by signing Karl Joseph and Andrew Sendejo, but they also wanted to address the group in the long run. Joseph and Sendejo are both on one-year deals and, at this stage of his career, Sendejo profiles more as a supporting cast member.
Delpit notched five tackles and one sack in LSU’s championship victory. All in all, he closed out three seasons with a combined 199 tackles, 17.5 sacks, seven interceptions, 24 passes defended, and two fumble recoveries.
Delpit has demonstrated the ability to lock down defenders in both man and zone coverage. He’s also an effective blitzer, as evidenced by those 17.5 sacks. He’ll have to tighten up his tackling form at the next level, but evaluators say his future is bright.
Colts Trade Up With Browns For RB Jonathan Taylor
The Colts will assemble a crowded backfield next season. Trading up from No. 44 to No. 41 with Cleveland, Indianapolis selected Wisconsin running back Jonathan Taylor.
In the deal, the Browns will slide down three spots and pick up a fifth-round selection (No. 160). The Colts, meanwhile, will pair Taylor with incumbent Marlon Mack.
While Mack and Taylor figure to be the headliners in a strong Indianapolis backfield next season, the Colts also have 2018 draftees Jordan Wilkins and Nyheim Hines on their team. The Taylor investment does somewhat cloud Mack’s future with the franchise. Mack is one of many talented 2017 running back draftees going into contract years. With Taylor on board, it would seem less likely the Colts are preparing to pay up to keep Mack.
As for Taylor, the longtime Badgers back possesses sprinter speed totaled a staggering 6,174 rushing yards in three seasons. Taylor’s worst season among those featured 1,977 yards. He posted back-to-back 2,000-yard campaigns in 2018 and ’19. Taylor, who scored 55 touchdowns in college, will play behind one of the NFL’s best offensive lines in Indianapolis.