The Browns’ offseason program has ended. It came and went without a key member of the offense taking part in practice.
Via Zac Jackson of The Athletic, tight end Harold Fannin Jr. didn’t participate in the offseason sessions.
In 16 games with 13 starts, Fannin caught 72 passes for 731 yards and six touchdowns as a rookie. He also scored a rushing touchdown.
There’s no obligation in the offseason to disclose injury information. The requirement doesn’t apply until the first week of the regular season.
For now, Fannin’s absence from offseason workouts will remain a mystery. It can’t be a contract thing; he’s not eligible for a new contract until after the 2027 season.
Beyond the question of when he’ll be healthy, his absence has prevented him from getting reps in the new offense being installed by coach Todd Monken.
Browns head coach Todd Monken told reporters this week that between Shedeur Sanders and Deshaun Watson, Cleveland has two quarterbacks capable of playing winning football.
Particularly for Watson, this represents an organizational reversal after team owner Jimmy Haslam said last spring that the trade for the quarterback was “a big swing and a miss.”
But General Manager Andrew Berry said on Friday that those comments didn’t have much to do with the way the Browns have operated to set up this year’s QB competition.
“I think you deal with what you have,” Berry said in an interview with Anthony Lima and Daryl Ruiter of 92.3 The Fan. “You deal with how players progress or don’t progress. But honestly, the public discourse doesn’t really have a factor in terms of how we think about putting together the team, with Todd, in terms of putting together the best lineup. That really doesn’t play a factor into it.”
Berry also said that he’s not ruling anything out when it comes to Watson — including a potential new deal for the QB, who is entering the last year of his contract with Cleveland.
“I think everything is on the table,” Berry said. “I think it would be silly to go into a season saying, ‘Something absolutely can or cannot happen.’ And I think particularly at the quarterback position, we’ve seen it with guys whether it’s Sam Darnold, or Daniel Jones, or Geno Smith, even Baker after he left us and Carolina.
“So I think you have to be open-minded and flexible. But I wouldn’t rule out anything. We’re looking for guys who can perform and who can lead.”
Watson has not played a full season since 2020 when he was still with Houston. He’s started 19 games for Cleveland since 2022, completing 61 percent of his passes for 3,365 yards with 19 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.
We’ll see in August if he can beat out Sanders to reclaim his spot as Cleveland’s QB1.
With head coach Todd Monken saying the Browns’ quarterback competition will continue into training camp, second-year signal-caller Shedeur Sanders will have the chance to show what he can do with pads on.
As Browns minicamp comes to a close this week, Monken told reporters that he’s seen improvement in a key area for the young QB.
“I just think he’s doing a better job — I think he’s being more decisive,” Monken said, via Daryl Ruiter of 92.3 The Fan. “Now, it’s easy to say [right now], we’re not in pads. It just feels like he’s making quicker decisions. The ball’s coming out of his hands, which he’s going to have to do. Not that he doesn’t have playmaking ability, because he does. But his ability to process quicker and get the ball out of his hands and eliminate lost yards, plays is going to be huge.
“He has to be able to stack plays and score, which is ultimately the No. 1 thing to do.”
Sanders did have some issues with holding the ball for too long as a rookie, finishing the season having taken 23 sacks in his eight games with seven starts. That works out to a sack rate of 9.79 percent.
Sanders completed 56.6 percent of his throws for 1,400 yards with seven touchdowns and 10 interceptions in 2025.
We’ll see what the competition between Sanders and Deshaun Watson brings once the Browns get to training camp. But Monken has said multiple times this week that he feels like both quarterbacks are capable of playing winning football in 2026.
Browns safety Ronnie Hickman is officially under contract for the 2026 season.
The Browns announced today that Hickman has signed his restricted free agent tender.
Realistically, that was the only option: Hickman could have signed with another team only before April 17, which was the deadline for restricted free agents to sign elsewhere. Once that deadline passed without Hickman signing, it was the Browns or no one.
The tender will pay Hickman $5.8 million for 2026 and he will become an unrestricted free agent after the season. If a team had signed Hickman to an offer sheet, the Browns would have had the choice of either matching the other team’s offer, or taking that team’s second-round draft pick.
Originally an undrafted rookie out of Ohio State in 2023, Hickman has played three years for the Browns and started all 17 games last year.
Jimmy Haslam gave up on Deshaun Watson 15 months ago when the Browns owner called the team’s signing of the quarterback “a big swing and miss.” After playing only 19 games in four seasons, Watson is entering the final year of his contract, competing with Shedeur Sanders for the starting job.
A reporter asked Watson on Wednesday about Haslam’s “swing-and-miss” comment, and the three-time Pro Bowler made clear he hasn’t given up on himself.
“One of my favorite baseball players that I’ve been watching is Bryce Harper,” Watson said, via Chris Easterling of the Akron Beacon Journal. “Sometimes he swings, but he stands back up and he gets another opportunity and he hits a home run. So you never know what the opportunity might show up, and that’s what I have right now.”
Watson hasn’t played since Oct. 20, 2024, when he tore his Achilles tendon against the Bengals. He tore it again a few months later.
He returned to practice last season, but the Browns never activated him from the reserve/PUP list.
Watson lost 11 games to a suspension in 2022 and 11 games to shoulder injuries in 2023.
“I could say that now I’m fully healthy, ready to go,” Watson said. “This last year I was able to conquer that. Then, I’d just say I haven’t been 100 percent since the Tennessee game [in Week 3] in ’23.”
Watson has not made the Pro Bowl since 2020 when he was with the Texans. Houston sat him in 2021 before trading him to the Browns in 2022.
