Finally, the Cleveland Browns' horrendous 2024 has come to a close, and with it the team is bringing a top 3 draft pick and a future quarterback competition in tow.
The Browns were not expected to be this bad headed into the season. In fact, there were postseason expectations with their defense shining all of 2023 and with a presumably healthy Deshaun Watson about to begin a new campaign with Cleveland.
All of those expectations crumbled after a 1-6 start under Watson and a 2-7 run without him, which landed Cleveland amongst the worst teams in the league and rendered them rudderless just one year removed from their Cinderella postseason run with Joe Flacco under center.
Now that 2024 is a wrap, though, it's time to get realistic about who is returning to the team and who just played - or simply watched from the sideline - their last Browns game.
Elijah Moore
Moore entered this season in need of a decent contract season. The former New York Jet who had struggled there was looking for redemption in Cleveland, something he never really achieved with just how shaky the Browns' quarterback situation was all season long.
Moore ended up picking up just 502 passing yards, and recorded just one touchdown for the entire season. His best games came with Jameis Winston under center, but even then, he wasn't seeing a complete 180 on his performance in the same way that someone like Jerry Jeudy did.
Moore is now headed into free agency in 2025 having been with two teams since being drafted in 2021, and never really establishing himself as a true WR1 or even a reliable WR2. That's a huge blow not just to Moore, but to Cleveland, as they'll have to fill the void of his departure with a rookie, most likely.
Jamari Thrash, who hasn't gotten much playing time this season but hasn't done much with his opportunities when given snaps, might get another shot at filling his shoes. But more than likely, Cleveland will take a wide receiver in the third round of the draft to replace Moore's production. Someone like a Jalen Royals out of Utah State makes sense here.
Jedrick Wills Jr.
Any Browns fan would have guessed that Wills would show up on this list. An impending free agent, Wills also just completely fumbled his chance to be the starting left tackle for Cleveland moving forward. He posted a 52.9 overall PFF grade, with an abysmal 51.6 grade on run blocking and 63.6 grade with his pass blocking.
Wills wasn't the only offensive linemen who caused issues for both pass protection and run blocking this season, but it didn't help that he essentially benched himself in the middle of the season because of an ongoing knee injury that he hadn't landed on the IR over.
Wills is another player that will likely be replaced by someone in the draft. A second round pick on a tackle feels likely for Cleveland headed into the 2025 as a means of either replacing Wills or, at least, providing a backup to Dawand Jones once he's healthy and back in 2025 for training camp. Wills might be scooped by a team desperate for any bodies on their OL.
But, as the Browns try to get a healthier OL established to support a future run game behind Nick Chubb, Jerome Ford, and likely a drafted RB, Wills just falls nowhere on their radar in terms of players they need to re-sign. His performance, just like that of the other tackles on the team, was lackluster and didn't stand out.
Jameis Winston
Winston is a tough player to list here. He absolutely succeeded to start his tenure as QB1 with the Browns after Deshaun Watson's injury, but then he reverted back to same old Winston with multiple turnovers over a very short stretch of time. Because of those turnovers, he was benched, and then relegated to becoming the emergency quarterback for Cleveland instead of the second in line.
However, Winston is still a valuable veteran to the team. He could very well be a great person to keep on if the team were to draft a rookie quarterback, as someone to show them the ropes of the playbook and how to properly backup whoever is actually starting come next year. And, according to a recent ESPN report, Winston being off the team in the offseason isn't a sure thing.
But, he'll need to be re-signed as he hits free agency this offseason. Assuming he's even available amongst the sea of free agent quarterbacks also hitting the market, the Browns would have to likely convince him to take some sort of pay cut or to accept yet another prove it contract to remain on the roster. Without that type of concession, it feels hard to imagine that he'll still be a Brown in 2025.
Germain Ifedi
Ifedi has been dealt a bad hand this season. He was always meant to be a backup tackle to one of Wills Jr. or Jones, and instead, was thrown into the fire as a starter once Jones went down with a broken leg. Ifedi didn't capitalize on this opportunity, often drawing foolish penalties for an illegal formation or being offsides.
As a result, it's tough to vouch for him to return this offseason given he's a free agent. Not that he can be easily replaced through the draft, but you'd have to imagine that Cleveland will be taking one, if not two, tackles in 2025. Plus, with Jones set to return next season, they can easily build out depth behind him through the draft and let Ifedi walk.
The 31 year old tackle can still be serviceable for a team in need of some depth at the tackle position, but it'd be best for Cleveland to let him walk given their current cap restrictions. They don't need to be doling money out to anyone who hasn't proven themselves to be at least a decent starter, and that leaves Ifedi on the outside looking in. That's why we should expect to see him off the roster.
Dorian Thompson-Robinson
Thompson-Robinson is the one player on this list that isn't a free agent, and therefore isn't someone the Browns can just let walk. They'd need to cut him from the roster prior to training camp. If he's cut prior to the June 1 deadline, the team would save $944,433 in cap space. If cut after June 1, the team saves $1,030,000.
The young quarterback has never shown the Browns why he could still be an answer to their starting quarterback woes hiding on the bench. In his time on the field in 2024, he threw for six interceptions and no touchdowns. With a QBR of 18.6, he found himself being just as bad as Watson was in his seven games during the season in just two starts.
His longest pass was just 29 yards, showing just how bad his arm strength and accuracy has been this season with Cleveland in his opportunities to start.
It feels like he's always on the cusp of finding some sort of rhythm, but then he'll literally throw it all away with a very weak pass that's completely off target or with a deep throw intended to land out of bounds that, in fact, just lands in a defenders hands. There's no more defending him as a legitimate backup on this team or any team.
In his defense, Cleveland's offensive line did him no favors in his two starts. He was incessantly pressured by both the Cincinnati Bengals and Miami Dolphins defensive lines. He was sacked seven times in his two starts, and pressured 14 times by the Bengals alone. With essentially no time to throw, he turned the ball over constantly.
But, in his second year and with two starts, and especially given the fact that it's known he can use his legs to get out of sticky situations such as those more often, it's frustrating to see him essentially have made zero adjustments to his game in his starts.
If Cleveland can draft a decent rookie quarterback in the second or third round who then acts as a backup to either Watson or whatever free agent signal caller the team signs in free agency, then Thompson-Robinson instantly becomes redundant. He just isn't an NFL player or an NFL quarterback, and his spot on the bench can be occupied by someone with a legitimate ceiling to grow and reach behind Watson or a free agent.
