One member of the Browns has decided to hang up his cleats.
Cleveland announced on Wednesday that the club has placed defensive end Emerson Smith on the reserve/retired list.
Smith, 26, had been with the Browns since September of last season, mainly on the practice squad. He appeared in two games for Cleveland, recording a pair of tackles in 20 defensive snaps and 12 special teams snaps.
He re-upped with the club on a futures deal in January.
A Giants fourth-round pick in 2021, Smith appeared in 13 games for the Giants over his first two seasons. He then spent time with the Jets and Raiders, though he didn’t appear in a regular-season game for either team.
Roger Shoals, an offensive lineman who spent a total of nine seasons in the NFL with the Browns, Lions and Broncos, has died at the age of 86.
Shoals played his college football at Maryland and was a 16th round pick of the Browns in the 1961 NFL draft as well as a 34th round pick of the Dallas Texans in the 1962 AFL draft. It wasn’t until 1963 that he chose to turn pro and picked the Browns and the NFL, and with that choice he became a member of one of the best teams in the league. In his second season, the Browns won the 1964 NFL Championship Game, and half a century later he still considered that his career highlight.
“That was heaven. The league sent us our rings. I still wear mine all the time even though people look at this old man and think ‘What the hell is he doing with a diamond?’” Shoals told the Baltimore Sun in 2014.
After two years in Cleveland, Shoals was traded to Detroit, where he became a starter on the Lions’ offensive line. He spent six years with the Lions before he was traded again to the Broncos, retiring after one year in Denver in 1971.
Cleveland had hoped to use The Art Modell Law to keep the Browns from leaving downtown for Brook Park. With Ohio changing the Modell law to allow an in-state move, the Browns had to move to Plan B.
Via Adam Ferrise of Cleveland.com, Cleveland wants to halt all efforts to build a new stadium based on the terms of the team’s current lease.
On the surface, its no issue. The lease runs through 2028. The Browns, in theory, are free to play elsewhere as of 2029.
At a deeper level, it’s more complicated. The question is whether and to what extent the Browns may take affirmative steps to line up a new home before the lease expires.
The city wants a court order preventing the Browns from doing anything in connection with the building of a new team until the lease ends — from funding to permitting to construction and beyond. The city also wants the Browns to be prevented from accepting money “from any source” or to even “carry out any negotiations for it.”
The lawsuit, if successful, would essentially force the Browns to spend multiple lame-duck years in Cleveland without a long-term deal, while they get their new stadium built in Brook Park.
It may be simply a leverage play aimed at striking a deal. A simple one, like the Browns agreeing to help pay for the demolition of the current stadium once the new one is open.
Yes, the Personal Conduct Policy applies to Browns running back Quinshon Judkins, even if he hasn’t signed his rookie deal. But the lack of a signed deal remains very relevant to the potential timing of a decision to use the Personal Conduct Policy to place Judkins on paid leave.
When it comes to paid leave, the NFL doesn’t activate it until it has to. The thinking is simple — why create a negative story when there’s no need to create a negative story?
Judkins’s presence at Browns camp isn’t relevant until he’s under contract. If his holdout lingers into late July and August, there’s no reason for the NFL to do anything. Then, if/when he signs the deal, they can activate the paid-leave provision of the Personal Conduct Policy.
Either way, it’s the same result. Judkins is out of sight and, ideally, out of mind. Or, at a minimum, out of the mouths of broadcasters who are working Browns games.
Of course, there’s a chance the NFL will decide based on its preliminary investigation that paid leave isn’t justified. Based on the police report, however, the allegation that he punched a female with a closed fist in the mouth/chin area (leaving visible bruising) could be enough to get the NFL to move.
And we know, Browns fans. We know. Chiefs receiver Rashee Rice wasn’t placed on paid leave after being charged with eight felony counts as a result of a Dallas-area street race. Traditionally, domestic violence allegations are far more likely to spark paid leave.
It happened last year to another Browns second-round pick from Ohio State. Defensive tackle Mike Hall was placed on paid leave within two weeks of being arrested for domestic violence.
So here’s the possible timeline. One, Judkins signs his rookie contract. Two, Judkins prepares to show up for training camp. Three — in theory — the NFL tells him to not bother.
Former Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel made around $8 million in his NFL career, but he thinks that would have been dwarfed by what he could have made in college if he had played when players were allowed to make money off their names, images and likenesses.
Manziel, who became the first freshman to win the Heisman Trophy in 2012 at Texas A&M, said in an interview with Greg McElroy that the NIL money for a high-profile player like him would have been substantially more than he made as the 22nd overall pick of the Browns in 2014.
“I would’ve taken a pay cut had I gone to the NFL,” Manziel said.
Manziel entered the NFL draft with two years of NCAA eligibility remaining, and he says there’s no way he would have done that if he’d been allowed to make money off his name.
“I think no matter what, being in the NIL era, if that would have been the equivalent of 2013, I would have stayed no matter what,” Manziel said. “Just because a couple million bucks in College Station goes a really, really long way. And, you go to the NFL, you’re a first round pick you sign for $10 million or whatever it is, that’s the two years that I had remaining at Texas A&M, to be able to make through NIL. So I think, for me, when I think back about it now, I definitely, if there would have been any real money involved, I definitely would have stayed no matter what.”
Manziel was forced to sit out the first half of one game at Texas A&M after an NCAA investigation into whether he had taken money to sign autographs. But the kind of money players were getting investigated for a decade ago was chump change compared to what starting quarterbacks at major football schools are getting paid legally now.
“You can be a four-year starter in the NIL world and set yourself up really, really nice whether you go to the next level or not,” Manziel said.
NIL has made football a different world, both because college players are getting rich, and because it’s viable financially for college players to stay in college if they’re not going to be a top pick in the NFL.
Browns running back Quinshon Judkins has yet to sign a contract. He’s technically not employed by the Browns.
As a result, many have asked a simple question: How can Judkins be subject to the NFL’s Personal Conduct Policy after being arrested on Saturday for misdemeanor domestic battery?
The short answer? He just is.
He’s the slightly longer answer, from the Personal Conduct Policy: “The provisions below apply to players under contract; all rookie players selected in the NFL College Draft; all undrafted rookie players following the NFL College Draft; all Draft-eligible players who attend a Scouting Combine or Pro Day or otherwise make themselves available for employment in the NFL; all unsigned veterans who were under contract in the prior League Year; and all other prospective players once they commence negotiations with a club concerning employment or otherwise make themselves available for employment in the NFL.”
Judkins falls within that broad language.
As recently explained in connection with the sexual assault lawsuit filed against Bills cornerback Maxwell Hairston for something that allegedly happened in 2021, the policy potentially applies even to conduct occurring while the player is in college, before he ever declares for the NFL draft: “Nothing in this Policy should be read to limit the league’s authority to investigate or discipline potential Policy violations alleged to have occurred before a player is under contract or Draft-eligible.”
So, yes, the policy applies to Judkins for something that allegedly happened in July 2025. It also would have applied, potentially, to something that allegedly happened in July 2024. Or July 2023. Or earlier.
Nick Saban’s Alabama tenure came to an end last offseason when the seven-time National Champion head coach elected to retire.
But one of Saban’s former assistants thinks the 73-year-old Saban will make his way back to a sideline at some point.
Speaking to reporters at SEC Media Days on Monday, current Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin was asked if he would hire Saban if his former boss wanted back in the game.
“He’s not going to need me to hire him,” Kiffin said, via Sam Hutchens of the Mississippi Clarion Ledger. “I don’t think he’s done. I think he’ll be back. Whether that’s college or NFL, I think he’ll be back.”
Kiffin worked under Saban at Alabama from 2014-2016 as the program’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. The two won a National Championship together to cap the 2015 season.
Saban was famously the Dolphins head coach from 2005-2006 before taking the Alabama job. His other NFL experience came as the Houston Oilers defensive backs coach from 1988-1989 and the Browns’ defensive coordinator under Bill Belichick from 1991-1994.
Kiffin was the Raiders coach from 2007-2008, lasting just four games into his second season before he was fired.
Browns running back Quinshon Judkins was arrested for misdemeanor domestic battery on Saturday. On Monday, the police report has emerged.
Based on the report, as posted by NFL Media, the alleged victim contends that, five days earlier, Judkins “punched her in the mouth/chin area with a closed fist,” and that he later “struck her additional times in the left arm and thigh.”
She told police that she didn’t call 911 because she didn’t want to hurt his career. She decided to make the report on July 12 “after speaking with family & friends and coming to the realization something needed to be done.”
Per the police report, the alleged victim “still had visible bruising on her chin area” on July 12. She had a photograph from July 8, in which (per the report) the “bruising was clearly evident.”
This report becomes a key piece of the evidence the NFL will consider in making the threshold decision of whether Judkins should be placed on paid leave pending resolution of the criminal charges.
Judkins spent Saturday night in custody. He was released Sunday on $2,500 bond.
After spending Saturday night in jail, Browns running back Quinshon Judkins has been released from custody.
Via CBS News Miami, a judge set Judkins’s bond at $2,500 on a misdemeanor charge of domestic battery.
His release comes with a requirement to have no contact with the alleged victim. He also is prohibited from having access to firearms.
The case will continue. The NFL will consider potential discipline under the Personal Conduct Policy once the prosecution concludes.
There’s still a chance Judkins will be placed on paid leave, given the nature of the alleged crime.
Judkins is one of 30 second-round picks who have not signed, due to a lingering push-and-pull over the amount of the contract that will be guaranteed.
In the aftermath of Saturday’s arrest of Browns rookie running back Quinshon Judkins for misdemeanor domestic battery, the NFL isn’t saying much.
Via Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com, chief NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said this regarding the Judkins arrest: “We are aware of the matter, but will decline further comment.”
The reality is that the NFL will investigate the situation. They’ll potentially impose discipline under the Personal Conduct Policy, after the criminal matter has resolved.
Before then, the league could (in theory) place Judkins on paid leave, pending resolution of the situation. It’s a case-by-case analysis, driven largely by P.R. concerns. The more serious the charges — and the more they relate to domestic violence — the more likely the league becomes to use paid leave.
As to potential discipline, the baseline suspension for domestic violence is six games. But that won’t happen until the criminal case ends.
Along the way, Judkins has protections. In the eyes of the law, he’s presumed innocent. As to the NFL, he’ll have the ability to defend himself through an eventual hearing, if it comes to that.
Regardless, the situation activates internal NFL procedures. While the league has declined comment as to Judkins, the policy and the history of enforcement of it says it all.
