Cleveland Browns

The NFL is making a significant change to the offseason calendar for the 2027 season.

Tom Pelissero of NFL Media reports that the free agent negotiating window will open on March 9 next year. That is the same date that the two-day window opened this year, but the change comes in how close it will be to the end of the Scouting Combine.

NFL teams will wrap up their examinations and interrogations of incoming prospects on March 8 in 2027, which moves the league away from having a week or so between the two events as they have in past years.

Under that setup, the Combine has always been rife with table-setting for free agency as agents and team executives are all in the same place with their minds on the same things. With that gap eliminated, there will likely be even more of that work being done in Indianapolis so that teams are ready to make moves right from the starting gun.

Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders is battling with Deshaun Watson to be the Week One starter, but he says he plans to win a lot more than a training camp competition in his career.

Sanders said on his YouTube channel that his goal is to be among the greatest quarterbacks in football.

“I’m not content just being on no team,” Sanders said. “I’m trying to be one of the greatest. You’ve got to be thankful, but know there’s still more. There’s still more.”

Sanders reflected on his rookie year by talking about a Week 17 win over the Steelers in which he felt like, after being a bench warmer for the early part of the season, he accomplished something by the way he kept getting back up.

“We were playing the Steelers. Their linebackers were hitting that game. I’m on the pine the whole year,” Sanders said. “You get out there you’re like, ‘This is something. I could do something like this.’”

Sanders took some criticism in that game for getting up and flexing after a third down run that failed to pick up the first down.

“To me that’s an accomplishment,” he said. “This dude tried to knock my head off . . . That’s the whole thing I’m celebrating. I know it’s fourth down, but I just evaded this tackle. I just got away.”

Sanders and the Browns didn’t have a lot to celebrate last year, but he believes he’ll have plenty to celebrate over the course of his career.

During Thursday’s #PFTPM, I addressed this question from Twitter: “How much cap space did the Browns save due to the insurance policy on Deshaun Watson for him missing the entire 2025 season?”

The answer, as contained in the attached video, was simple: I don’t know, but I’ll try to find out.

Here’s what I found out, so far.

And I’ve broadened it beyond 2025, to include all cap space the Browns have saved.

In 2022, he missed no games due to injury; he was suspended for 11 games and played in the remaining six.

The March 2023 restructuring of Watson’s original five-year deal with the Browns contains an “Insurance Addendum,” which permits the Browns to purchase: up to $91,801,463 in insurance covering 2023, 2024, and 2025 for an injury occurring between the signing of the contract and the start of the 2023 offseason program; up to $82,451,463 in insurance covering 2023, 2024, and 2025 for any injury occurring from the first day of the 2023 offseason program to the beginning of the 2024 offseason program; up to $58,176,466 in insurance covering 2024 and 2025 for any injury occurring from the start of the 2024 offseason program to the start of the 2025 offseason program; and up to $33,901,460 in insurance covering 2025 for any injury occurring from the first day of the 2025 offseason program until the final game of the 2025 regular season.

The Browns declined to comment on the matter.

Enter NFLPA records, which PFT has obtained. The records contain Watson’s full contract and cap breakdowns from 2023 through, ultimately, 2030. They show — in multiple locations — a “return of [signing bonus] from insurance policy.”

Under the breakdown of Watson’s March 13, 2023 renegotiation, NFLPA records show an $8.79 million credit in 2024 for the return of signing bonus from insurance.

For Watson’s August 28, 2024 renegotiation, NFLPA records reiterate the $8.79 million credit in 2024.

Under the breakdown of Watson’s December 27, 2024 renegotiation, NFLPA records repeat the $8.79 million credit for 2024, along with an $8.79 million credit for 2025, and $8.781 million credit in 2026, an $8.755 million credit in 2027, and an $8.755 million credit in 2028.

Watson’s March 5, 2025 renegotiation adds another $7.983 million credit for 2025, another $7.992 million for 2026, another $8.018 million for 2027, another $7.983 million credit for 2028, and a $7.983 million credit for 2029.

The most recent renegotiation, from March 6, 2026, adds another $4.951 million credit for 2026.

Confused? We certainly were.

It took a little while to figure it out. As best we can tell, it appears that the Browns will have received, from 2024 through 2029, the following cap credits: $8.79 million (for 2024), $8.79 million (for 2025), $7.983 million (for 2025), $8.781 million (for 2026), $7.992 million (for 2026), $4.951 million (for 2026) $8.755 million (for 2027), $8.018 million (for 2027), $8.755 million (for 2028), $7.983 million (for 2028), and $7.983 million (for 2029).

That’s a total in cap credit for 2024 through 2029 of $88.781 million. Which also reflects, presumably, the insurance benefits received by the Browns on Watson’s five-year, $230 million deal.

The payments flow from the shoulder injuries Watson suffered in 2023, and the torn Achilles tendon he sustained in October 2024. (The Achilles tendon was re-torn later.)

In all, Watson missed 11 games due to injury in 2023, 10 in 2024, and all 17 in 2025.

Thus, while the trade for Watson and the five-year, $230 million, fully-guaranteed contract combine to create one of the single worst transactions in NFL history, the Browns’ decision to purchase insurance (the premiums for which surely weren’t cheap) resulted in more than $88 million in refunds for the games Watson missed due to injury.

Rams quarterback Ty Simpson didn’t slide far enough in the first round to make that into a legitimate source of motivation. If he’s looking for it elsewhere, he’s in luck.

Former two-time NFL General Manager Scot McCloughan recently directed sharp criticism at the 13th overall pick in the 2026 NFL draft.

“I think the quarterback from Alabama is overdrafted,” McCloughan said on the Team 980 in D.C., via Valentina Martinez of the New York Post. “But it’s the position alone, you know. I think, not being a guru, but he’s like J.J. McCarthy. He’s like Mac Jones. He’s a career backup.”

(It’s been a week of catching strays for McCarthy. First, Dianna Russini says he “sucks” in the footage from her January traffic stop. Now this.)

“Ideally, he might start, but that’s because of where his pick was and they want to prove everybody right, you know, type of thing,” McCloughan said. “And that’s not the way you should build a roster. Not at all.”

McCloughan knows a thing or two about scouting; he served as G.M. of the 49ers from 2008 to 2009, a personnel executive in Seattle from 2010 to 2013 (when they built a Super Bowl champion), and Washington G.M. from 2015 to 2016.

Then again, Sean McVay knows a thing or two about quarterbacks. And this is the first potential starter the Rams have drafted since McVay arrived in 2017. (He inherited Jared Goff, and in 2021 the Rams traded for Matthew Stafford.)

Time will tell what Simpson will become. With Stafford talking about playing into his 40s, it could be a while before McCloughan is proven right, or wrong.

The only shred of good news regarding a recent social-media tirade from former Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel is that he has deleted it.

Here’s what happened. ESPN Cleveland recently posted a clip of comments Manziel made in August 2025 on the Nightcap podcast. When the subject of his only NFL team came up, Manziel said this: “I sit here today, and I go back and forth with, ‘Man, am I gonna let Cleveland off the hook and just like let it go, or am I gonna sit here with hate and animosity in my heart for the rest of my life?’ I finally sit here today, I’m like, ‘Fuck it. I think I’m gonna be pissed at them and hate them forever.’ . . . . It is what it is, man. No love for the Browns. I’m rooting for 0-and-16 seasons every season.”

On Monday, Tony Rizzo of ESPN Cleveland responded to Manziel on the air.

“Bro, what did . . . anyone do for you, except root for you to win?” Rizzo said. “And when it went south, OK, that’s how it goes, as [with] Baker [Mayfield]. But, but — did someone hurt him? Is he a jilted lover? Is there some — did I miss — was there an incident where somebody attacked him? . . . Why the hate? Why in the hate for the team that drafted you?”

In response, Manziel teed off on Twitter, directing at Rizzo a four-letter word starting with “c” that rarely is used in the American lexicon. (In England, however, they throw that word around nonchalantly — while regarding “wanker” as something akin to “Voldemort.”) The full content of the tweet was quoted by Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing.

Again, Manziel has deleted the tweet. Which is good. The deeper question, as Rizzo articulated, is why does Manziel hate the Browns? They ended his round-one free-fall in 2014. They gave him multiple chances to play in the NFL like he did at the college level.

The 10-month-old Nightcap appearance included an acknowledgment from Manziel that he had some responsibility for the outcome. “But when it comes down to it, you take all of that aside and you throw it away, you look in the mirror and you say, I let an amazing opportunity slip,” Manziel said. “It’s on me.”

In the Netflix documentary from 2023, Manziel admitted that he watched “zero” film during his two years with the Browns.

It’s possible for Manziel to both admit that he didn’t do enough to thrive (or even survive) in the NFL while also holding a grudge about the Browns. Yes, they drafted him. They also haven’t developed a true franchise quarterback since returning to the league as an expansion team in 1999.

Mayfield was moving in that direction, but they opted to pursue Deshaun Watson after Mayfield’s fourth season. Which, for multiple reasons, has been a disaster.

Still, Manziel does himself no favors when he goes on the offensive. Especially when he does it in an objectively offensive way.

Even if the Browns failed him, it’s hard to imagine a different outcome to his NFL career if he’d been drafted by any other team. Indeed, once he was cut by the Browns and available to be signed by anyone, no one ever did.

Think about that one for a second. A first-round quarterback, cut after two seasons, and never given a chance anywhere else.

He was immature then. At 33, there’s still enough immaturity to create periodic issues for him. And while he’s lingering on the fringes of the media (he has a podcast, but the most recent episode was posted at least two months ago), the window on his relevance is more closed than open.

And even the niche he’s catering to by fighting an overmatched and out-of-shape streamer or by launching an over-the-top social-media assault on a Cleveland radio host who was asking a fair question won’t stick around for much longer.

Deshaun Watson is looking to get a leg up in the Browns’ quarterback competition.

According to Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com, Watson has returned to the team facility this week to train with his private physical therapist and private QBs coach.

Watson is competing with second-year signal-caller Shedeur Sanders to be the Browns’ starting quarterback to start the season.

New head coach Todd Monken had said that he wanted a starter in place by the end of the offseason program. But Monken noted earlier this month that he was not ready to name a starter, in part because both Watson and Sanders had shown the ability to play winning football for the club.

Watson, who missed all of the 2025 season with a torn Achilles, is entering the final season of his five-year, fully guaranteed contract with Cleveland.

He has started 19 games since the infamous trade that brought him to the Browns, completing 61.2 percent of his passes for 3,365 yards with 19 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.

Cleveland was 1-6 in games Watson started during the 2024 season.

Cabot also notes that Watson is planning to host a passing camp for some of his offensive teammates in South Florida in mid-July. Sanders said that he would join that session instead of hosting a different one on his own, citing the fact that they’re all teammates.

We’ll see if any of it makes a difference for either QB once the Browns put on pads during training camp and get on the field for preseason games.

Browns fans will have nine chances to check out the team during training camp this summer.

The team announced their slate of open practice sessions on Monday. The team’s rookies will report to camp on July 23 and the whole team is due in on July 28.

The first open practice at the team’s facility will be held on July 31. The other open practices will be held on August 1, August 4-8, and August 11-12. All of the practices are scheduled for 1:30 p.m. ET.

All of the practices will be open to the general public with tickets becoming available on July 15. Season ticket holders will be able to reserve tickets on July 14.

The Browns have officially made two moves in their front office.

Cleveland announced on Monday that the club has brought back Ryan Grigson to the organization as senior football advisor. Additionally, Chris Cooper has been promoted to senior vice president of football administration.

The move with Grigson was previously reported last week. The former Colts G.M. had been with the Vikings since 2022, the first three seasons as senior vice president of player personnel and in 2025 as assistant General Manager.

This is Grigson’s third stint with the Browns, as he was a senior personnel executive for the club in 2017 before serving as senior football advisor from 2020-2021.

Cooper is heading into his 13th season with Cleveland. After joining the team as director of football administration in 2014, he was promoted to vice president of football administration and served in that role for the last seven seasons.

The Browns are still sorting out who their quarterback will be in Week 1, but they have a better sense of who will be catching passes from either Deshaun Watson or Shedeur Sanders.

First-round pick KC Concepcion, second-round pick Denzel Boston and free agent acquisition Tylan Wallace joined Jerry Jeudy, Cedric Tillman and Isaiah Bond in the wide receiver group this offseason. That makes for a much deeper group than the team was working with during the 2025 season and Concepcion said on NFL Network recently that he believes it has the potential to be a potent one as well.

“I think that this new wide receiver room, it can be dangerous,” Concepcion said. “Everybody complements each other. Everybody is a different receiver.”

Tight end Harold Fannin was the team’s leader in receptions and receiving yards last season while Jeudy was the only wideout with more than 21 catches. The offseason moves show a desire to change things in 2026 and Concepcion thinks the team is on the right track.

In 2025, the NFL began outfitting the jerseys of the prior year’s award winners with gold shields. This year, a pair of Rams will be wearing them.

The gold shields go to the reigning NFL MVP, the offensive player of the year, the defensive player of the year, the offensive rookie of the year, and the defensive rookie of the year.

This year, the five awards that will be acknowledged with gold shields were won by Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford (MVP), Seahawks receiver Jaxon Smith-Njgiba (OPOY), then-Browns defensive end Myles Garrett (DPOY), Panthers receiver Tetairoa McMillan (OROY), and Browns linebacker Carson Schwesinger (DROY).

With Garrett being traded to the Rams, L.A. will have both Stafford and Garrett wearing the gold shields. (If Garrett hadn’t been traded, the 5-12 Browns would have two defensive players wearing gold shield).

The gold shields are hard to notice, since the shield on each jersey is small. The issue landed caught our eye on a slow Sunday because the Seahawks have posted an image of Smith-Njigba in his new jersey.

And, no, Smith-Njigba’s gold shield doesn’t have a typo.