Browns roster: As OTAs, training camp loom, one big area of concern

The 2025 season holds promise but Browns roster has a big hole

Compared to last season, the Cleveland Browns’ roster has already experienced quite a few changes.

The quarterback room has been completely gutted. Although Deshaun Watson is a holdover, he is expected to be placed on IR at some point. The other signal-callers are all gone. In their place are three new guys plus one retread.

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All along the roster, this is the case. New faces to compete.

With all of this disorder, are all the problem areas solved? Did the draft conquer this? Was GM Andrew Berry able to fill all holes with his free agent signings? Plug the remaining holes with some existing players who have re-signed?

Most position groups appear to be headed in the right direction. Several groups may be considered full of good prospects with much improvement, and the voids are complete.

But not one position group. No sir. In fact, would this room be considered a liability?

The safety room.

More than any other group, the safety position has had quite a bit of upheaval. At one point last season, it was considered to be the most settled, with plenty of talent. But ever since the 2024 curtain closed, so has this room.

Seasoned veteran Rodney McLeod retired after 13 seasons. He brought stability and veteran leadership and was considered a coach on the field. His departure was expected as he had previously announced that 2024 would be his final year.

Juan Thornhill had been one of Berry’s “splash” players signed in the 2023 free agent class as he was whisked away from the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs. He had inked a three–year, $21 million contract that included a $14 million guarantee, plus he was given an $8.5 million signing bonus. What did Cleveland get for their money? Zero interceptions and 103 total tackles in his two seasons. Nobody batted an eye when Berry released him with one year left on his deal.

And youngster D’Anthony Bell was signed by the Seattle Seahawks in free agency this year. Bell was one of the stars of special teams and had gotten increased defensive snaps and had seven starts in his three seasons with the Browns. In his second year, Bell played 227 snaps or 21% of defensive plays. That was reduced to just 93 defensive snaps (9%) last year.

The only players that have remained under contract are starting strong safety Grant Delpit, FS Ronnie Hickman and undrafted rookie last year Chris Edmonds.

Edmonds (6’-2”, 210 pounds). He signed with the Browns right after the draft had concluded, and after being released on the final cutdown day, was signed to the practice squad. The coaching staff elevated Edmonds to the main roster in Week 6 to which he played mainly on special teams. He received 21 snaps in this area (40%) but just three snaps with the defensive unit (2%).

Berry then signed free safety Trey Dean (6’-2”, 200 pounds) to a reserve/future contract in January, who went undrafted in 2023 He was on the Browns’ practice squad last year, and is now with his third NFL team. Despite never playing in a single NFL game, Dean has a Super Bowl ring when he was a practice squad member when the Chiefs won Super Bowl LVIII.

With this much turnover in one position group, it was expected that Berry would replace Thornhill with another big signing in free agency, such as Jevon Holland of the Miami Dolphins. That didn’t happen. With April’s NFL draft approaching, the Browns were mocked to take an explosive safety by at least Round 3. Again, Cleveland came out of the draft empty-handed as no new safety was selected.

With the first pick in the draft in Round 2, S Nick Emmanwori of South Carolina was the second-ranked safety in this year’s class and available. Instead, Berry selected LB Carson Schwesinger, who is a tackling machine. At pick #36, running back Quinshon Judkins from Ohio State was the choice instead of Texas safety Andrew Mukuba. In Round 3, Berry chose QB Dillon Gabriel of Oregon when S Xavier Watts of Notre Dame was still on the board and taken two picks later.

Are the Browns going into the 2025 season with just Delpit, Hickman, Edmonds and Dean?

Delpit (6’-3”, 208 pounds) is one of Cleveland’s best defensive players. He had 111 total tackles last year and 80 tackles in 2023 before he became injured and was ruled out for the remainder of the season. In 2022, Delpit accumulated 105 tackles. So, his calling card is production. For his career, he also has six interceptions, one forced fumble, 17 batted passes, 10 QB hits, 5 hurries, 16 pressures, 7 knockdowns, 3.5 sacks, and 21 tackles for loss. His receivers have scored just 13 touchdowns in four seasons.

Hickman (6’-1”, 209 pounds) is the great unknown and the heir apparent. He came to Cleveland as an undrafted rookie free agent in 2023, and after a sensational training camp that culminated with three picks in preseason, he became a roster member. He played in just 10 games as a rookie, with the majority of his playing time on defense occurring in the second half of the season after injuries to Delpit and McLeod. Despite being a rookie and going undrafted, he played 312 snaps on defense, which accounted for 47% of defensive plays. Hickman also contributed to 11% of special teams’ situations.

Last season, Hickman played 463 snaps (52%) and was a constant competitor on the field. His special teams contribution increased to 14%, so he was on the field quite a bit. Obviously, enhanced playing time means more production. Hickman elevated his total tackles to 45, up from 25 the year before. He also saw new stats that were negligible in his rookie season, such as batted passes, QB hits, and knockdowns.

As the coaching staff soured on Thornhill and his lack of effort, it was Hickman who took over his defensive snaps.

Browns safety coach Ephraim Banda told Browns.com:

“(Hickman’s) been coached well. He comes from a great program at Ohio State, and they obviously do a great job there. A lot of those guys over there do an excellent job, and they prepped him for this moment. It was not too big for him, and he was ready to go. And Coach Schwartz preaches that. He’s telling all those guys who haven’t got the Ronnie Hickman experience that your time’s coming. Don’t drop your gloves. Be ready to go.”

Again, are the Browns going into the 2025 season with just Delpit, Hickman, Edmonds and Dean?

A quick glance at the free agent safeties that remain unsigned includes Julian Blackmon of the Indianapolis Colts who is great in coverage but is an inconsistent tackler, Atlanta Falcons free agent Justin Simmons, Quandre Diggs from the Seahawks, and the Miami Dolphins’ Jordan Poyer, who is 34 years old.

After the draft had concluded, perhaps one piece of this puzzlement occurred when Berry signed undrafted rookie free agent Donovan McMillon (6’-2”, 205 pounds) out of Pittsburgh.

McMillon, like Hickman and Bell, just might be the next undrafted guy to come in and secure a roster spot despite not hearing his name called in the NFL draft.

He played in the SEC for two years with Florida before moving to the ACC when he joined Pitt. While not playing much on defense with Florida, he was instantly inserted into the starting lineup with Pittsburgh and had 25 starts with 105 total tackles as a junior and 115 tackles in his senior season.

According to RAS, which measures players’ size, speed, strength, and overall combine performance against a historical pool of other players at their position, McMillon ranked #100 out of 1,236 safeties graded since 1987.

Candace Pedraza of Dawg Pound Daily gave this analysis on McMillon:

“McMillon has major potential to be a diamond in the rough from this year’s pool of UDFA’s. In highlight reels of McMillon’s defense from this past season, you can see why he could be a sleeper signing for Cleveland – he’s got some lightning-quick hands, a great read on passes, and has the ability to break things up in the middle of the field. This signing makes sense as either a way to add more depth to the position alongside Delpit and Hickman or as a means of replacing some of Hickman’s snaps.”

McMillon is being counted on by Berry to become this year’s under-the-radar success story. The Browns have no issue with taking a flyer on a guy who went undrafted. LB Mohamoud Diabate went undrafted and, in just his second year, played 70% of defensive snaps (581) last season. Last year’s undrafted rookie linebacker Winston Reid was quickly re-signed for this season after being a special teams ace and getting 144 defensive snaps.

Yet another player who just may play into this safety room scenario is defensive back Nik Needham (6’-1”, 196 pounds). He was signed on April 21 from the Miami Dolphins.

Needham has played in the league for six years, playing opposite Xavien Howard at cornerback. But Needham is a versatile player and could be shifted to safety.

The Browns’ cornerback room currently consists of Pro Bowler Denzel Ward, M.J. Emerson, Greg Newsome, Cam Mitchell, special teams guru Tony Brown, last year’s rookies Myles Harden and Chigozie Anusiem, free agent signee Anthony Kendall, and undrafted rookie free agents Don Jones and Lamareon James. That’s a lot of bodies.

And Needham has fresh legs. After making his mark with the Dolphins and becoming a valuable member of their secondary, he sustained a torn Achilles tendon while in coverage in the 2022 Week 6 contest against the Minnesota Vikings.

Not wanting to lose him and still recovering from the injury, Miami re-signed him as an unrestricted free agent to a one-year deal worth $1.67 million. But he was unable to start the 2023 season and was placed on the Reserve/Physically Unable to Perform list instead. He was activated later in the season and played safety and nickel corner sparingly last year.

Currently, Needham is completely healthy and ready to secure a roster spot. That just might be with the safety group instead. Needham has played safety before, filling in for Miami safeties Jevon Holland and Brandon Jones earlier in his career.

Needham is a fierce and willing hitter. Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald stated this about Needham:

“Needham stands as one of the Dolphins’ best undrafted success stories. Overcoming this injury is one of the hardest things in football for this position. He is a versatile player.”

With the addition of McMillon and Needham, perhaps this is all part of Berry’s plan for the safety room.