The linebacker spot was one of great flux for the Browns in 2022, after the unit was decimated by injuries throughout the campaign. Few changes to the unit have been made during the offseason, so the team’s incumbents will be counted on to remain healthy as part of a new-look front seven.

Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah remains at the top of the depth chart at the second level, but he was one of four linebackers who started games at some point during the season but ended the year on IR. The 2021 second-rounder will be expected to take a step forward in terms of production in Year 3, but a bolstered D-line in front of him and a healthy group of fellow starters should help in that regard.

On that note, plenty of attention will be placed on Sione Takitaki‘s rehab from a torn ACL. The setback hindered his market and yielded only a one-year Browns deal, but a return to his pre-injury form would be a welcomed development for player and team. The 28-year-old is not a lock to be healthy in time for the beginning of the season, however, per The Athletic’s Zac Jackson (subscription required).

Especially if Takitaki were to miss time in the fall, signficant playing time would be available for the likes of Anthony Walker and Jacob Phillips. The former inked a one-year pact with Cleveland for the third consecutive offseason, while the latter is entering the final year of his rookie contract. The Browns signed Matthew Adams to provide depth and special teams experience, but no rookies were added at the position during the draft.

Midseason trade acquisition Deion Jones also remains unsigned, after he and the Browns agreed to a reworked contract which removed the 2023 campaign from his deal. As Jackson notes, Cleveland’s lack of impactful moves suggests confidence in the team’s available options at the LB spot ahead of new defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz‘s first year at the helm. The arrivals of Dalvin Tomlinson, Ogbonnia Okoronkwo and Za’Darius Smith should improve his unit’s play at the line of scrimmage. Whether or not that helps answer the outstanding questions surrounding the linebacking corps will be worth watching as the season progresses.

The Browns’ linebacking corps was ravaged by injuries this season, and the position is very much in flux heading into the offseason. One member of the unit who is eyeing a return is Sione Takitaki.

The 27-year-old is heading into free agency for the first time in his career, having spent his first four seasons in Cleveland. The former third-rounder primarily played on special teams as a rookie, but he took on a much larger role in 2020, starting 12 of 15 contests that season. He flashed potential that year with 67 tackles and one interception, but took a step back in playing time in 2021.

Takitaki was once again counted on as a key member of the Browns’ defense this season, however. He logged a career-high snap share of 65%, setting a new personal mark with 71 tackles along the way. He started eight of 12 games, and was poised to continue playing a significant role for the final month of the campaign until he suffered a torn ACL in December. That injury added further to Cleveland’s availability issues at the position, with Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, Anthony Walker, Jacob Phillips and Jordan Kunaszyk each finishing the campaign on IR.

Takitaki’s recovery complicates his market, as he is on track to return to full health around October. While the injury no doubt hurt the value of his next contract, the BYU product is optimistic both that he can actually recover in time to be available for Week 1 and, partially as a result, land a new deal allowing him to remain in Cleveland for at least the short-term future.

“I feel like I have enough tape to end up landing on my feet eventually, so I’m not really worried,” he said, via Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal. “Obviously, [the injury] sucks… I could have definitely got hooked up in the next contract, but I’m excited. I still got a lot of tape, and I bring a lot to the table.”

The Browns are currently projected to be in worse financial shape than most other teams as free agency approaches, and a rebuild of the front seven would come as little surprise given the team’s defensive performance against the run in 2022. Cleveland’s decision with Takitaki and Walker, a fellow pending UFA, will thus be a situation worth watching, though the pair both made their feelings about the organization clear.

“Yeah, I’ve already voiced my opinion,” Takitaki said, echoing Walker’s sentiments. “I love Cleveland. I told them I want to be back, so we’ll see what the future holds.”

The Browns are having persistent trouble keeping linebackers healthy. They lost another starter Sunday, with Kevin Stefanski confirming Sione Takitaki will miss the rest of the season with an ACL tear.

Takitaki’s ACL injury follows Anthony Walker‘s torn quadriceps tendon and Jacob Phillips‘ torn pec. This is obviously a chunk of second-level experience lost for a 5-7 Browns team facing a run-the-table scenario in order to make a playoff push.

This comes at a brutal point for Takitaki, who is months away from his first crack at unrestricted free agency. A former third-round pick out of BYU, Takitaki has started 29 games for the Browns, who drafted him during John Dorsey‘s GM tenure. With that regime no longer in place, it will be interesting to see how the Browns handle the fourth-year defender’s free agency. Takitaki, Walker and Deion Jones are eligible to hit the market in 2023. The team’s restructure with Jones, upon acquiring him from Atlanta, took a year off his Falcons-constructed extension.

Takitaki broke into Cleveland’s starting lineup during the franchise’s best season since rebooting, and he both notched a regular-season pick-six in that 2020 slate and intercepted Ben Roethlisberger during a COVID-affected Browns team’s wild-card upset win. This season, Pro Football Focus rates Takitaki (71 tackles, one sack, one forced fumble) as the Browns’ best off-ball ‘backer and a top-30 player at the position. This injury should affect his market, however. With Takitaki (28 in June) on the older end for a first-time free agent, this is a tough setback.

Cleveland still has Jones and Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah healthy. Despite his pedigree, the longtime Falcons starter has worked mostly as a backup since the October trade. Although Jones has started two games with Cleveland, he has yet to exceed 20 snaps since his most recent start (Week 10). More should be needed from the seventh-year defender following the team’s latest linebacker injury, but second-year ‘backer Tony Fields has started the past two games. He played a career-high 33 defensive snaps against the Texans.

Browns linebacker Sione Takitaki is entering the final year of his rookie contract, and Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com writes the Browns could consider a new deal. Takitaki’s place in Cleveland beyond 2022 is not known just yet, but the former third-round pick has been a regular on the past two Browns defenses. 

Cleveland’s most frequent alignment is a 4-2-5 look, with Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah and Anthony Walker entrenched as the primary linebackers in the middle of the unit. But when the team deploys a strong-side ‘backer, it calls upon Takitaki, a hard-hitting run-stopper whose 67.5 grade from Pro Football Focus in 2021 would have been a top-20 mark if he had enough snaps to qualify.

Indeed, the BYU product appeared in just 28% of the Browns’ defensive snaps least season after posting a 43% number the year before. Much of that decrease was due to the arrivals of Owusu-Koramoah and Walker, who established themselves as high-level performers and relegated Takitaki to more of a marginal role.

Still, the advanced metrics were similarly fond of Takitaki in 2020, when he posted a career-best PFF grade of 71.2. Even if he is slated for rotational duties moving forward, the 27-year-old has been productive when given the opportunity to stay on the field, and should be relatively affordable on a short- or medium-term extension.

As many have pointed out amidst Cleveland’s Deshaun Watson-induced QB uncertainty, the Browns are currently in a league of their own in terms of 2022 cap space. Much of that will likely be used to roll over into next year, which will see a substantial spike in cap figures for the likes of Watson, Myles Garrett, Amari Cooper, and Denzel Ward. An extension would therefore have to be relatively modest for Takitaki, though there is little reason to believe anything other than that would be the Browns’ goal.

As Cleveland looks to retain as many members of what it feels is a Super Bowl-caliber roster, keeping Takitaki in the fold would likely be a worthwhile investment. How aggressively they pursue an extension, however, remains to be seen. Of course, as Cabot notes, the team could simply wait to consider a new contract until next offseason.

Adam La Rose contributed to this post.