PFF taps Jordan Hicks as a player who deserves more attention for what he brings to the field.
The Cleveland Browns are in a bit of a transition phase at the linebacker position heading into 2025.
While it was not a surprise, the news earlier this week that linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah was being placed on the Reserve/Physically Unable to Perform list was still disappointing. Owusu-Koramoah has been dealing with a neck injury since the middle part of last season and will now miss the entirety of the 2025 season.
The club is also dealing with an off-field incident involving Devin Bush after the veteran linebacker was arrested on May 4 in Pennsylvania on simple assault and harassment charges. Things have been quiet since that news broke as the Browns are “gathering more information.”
Cleveland did address the position in the draft by selecting Carson Schwesinger from UCLA, who would have made a nice pairing with JOK but can still fill in some of the gap, especially against the run.
The most UNDERRATED player for every team entering the season https://t.co/JvCCbQW4XZ
— PFF (@PFF) May 14, 2025
But there is one player that everyone may be overlooking, and that is 10-year veteran Jordan Hicks, who Pro Football Focus tapped as Cleveland’s most underrated player heading into the 2025 season:
Year 10 in the NFL resulted in a top-10 PFF overall grade at the position for Hicks (77.4) and the best mark of his career since 2018. He started the year having ceded snaps to Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah as the team’s top linebacker, but after Koramoah’s injury, Hicks regained the role and finished the year as one of just eight linebackers to earn a top-25 PFF grade in run defense (77.7) and coverage (70.0), proving there’s still plenty left in the tank for the near-33-year-old linebacker heading in 2025.
The Browns signed Hicks as a free agent prior to the 2024 season. In his first year with the team, he made 12 starts and finished with 78 tackles, four tackles for loss, five quarterback hits, and two sacks.
Hicks also brings some much-needed experience to the linebacker room, which is currently filled with Mohamoud Diabate, Easton Mascarenas-Arnold, Winston Reid, and Nathanial Watson, all players who are still early into their NFL careers and can use the guidance from someone like Hicks, who has played in 134 career games and was a member of the 2017 Philadelphia Eagles team that won the Super Bowl.
Be sure to check out Dawg By Nature’s 2025 schedule breakdown for the Browns, which includes details on each game and more.