As late as the end of the 2025 NFL season, the next future Hall of Famer for the Cleveland Browns was clearly DE Myles Garrett. Technically, Garrett landed in the Hall for his amazing single-season sack record in 2025. After OT Joe Thomas was inducted a few years ago, something he talked about in an exclusive interview with DBN’s Barry Shuck, the next Hall of Famer to go in wearing orange and brown was Garrett, and a lot of question marks.
Several former Browns have made it to different rounds of
Hall of Fame voting recently, with CB Joe Haden and OL Alex Mack becoming eligible for the honor this year. OL Joel Bitonio’s candidacy will be an interesting one, now that he is retired, as very few guards are actually enshrined in Canton.
With the Hall of Fame game Thursday night and the newest inductions coming on Saturday, a piece on ESPN looked at every team’s roster and who on it could be the team’s next inductions from their current roster. For Cleveland, it is a couple of very young players and CB Denzel Ward:
Work to do: LB Carson Schwesinger, Edge Jared Verse, CB Denzel Ward
While Myles Garrett has already done enough to earn enshrinement, Verse — who came to Cleveland in the Garrett trade this summer — is years of high play and a leveling up away from matching that. Starting his career with two Pro Bowl appearances and a Defensive Rookie of the Year award is of course good for his case. Schwesinger succeeded Verse as Defensive Rookie of the Year, and while off-ball linebackers can struggle to rack up the sort of stats that draw attention from voters, the 2025 second-rounder managed 2.5 sacks and 11 tackles for loss in his debut season.
With the Hall generally inducting just a handful of players each year, there will be great players who do not make the cut. Ward will need a long career and the Browns to have some success to push him into that elite category, while Verse (going into Year 3) and Schwesinger (going into Year 2) are just getting started.
If you had to guess, who is the next Browns player to get into the Hall of Fame? If it is not a current player, who do you think on the current roster makes the Hall next?
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