The Cleveland Browns saw a need for additional depth at defensive tackle and claimed Coziah Izzard off waivers from the Arizona Cardinals. The Cardinals have a logjam at DT and released Izzard on Monday. This is the third free agent defender added in the last few days for the Browns roster, including a recent UFL star.
In a corresponding move, Cleveland waived WR Aaron Anderson with an injury designation. Anderson, a UDFA this offseason, had made a number of exciting plays already in training camp
but was injured in practice on Tuesday, and quickly waived Tuesday afternoon.
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Arizona cut Izzard (6’-3”, 305 pounds) to make room for a kickoff return man. Izzard had been inserted into the Cardinals’ depth chart, which currently has eight DTs on the training camp roster.
Izzard went undrafted in last year’s NFL draft before signing with the Kansas City Chiefs after a stellar college campaign at Penn State, where he was referred to as “an athletic freak.” Despite having a decent camp with KC, he was released on the final cutdown day, then signed to the practice squad, and later waived.
Four days later, the New Orleans Saints signed him to their practice squad, where he spent all of 2025. Although he inked a reserve/futures contract in January, the Saints released him on June 17. The Cardinals were seeking to fill the depth void when one of their draft picks became injured, a defensive tackle, and signed Izzard after a tryout with other players last week.
In high school, Izzard was named All-Conference for all four years. His school won the state championship in his senior year. He had 23 major-program college football offers.
Because of the pandemic, Izzard was a fifth-year senior. He played in 50 games with just seven starts, 78 total tackles, 17.5 tackles for loss, 9 sacks, 0 batted passes, and 2 forced fumbles.
Currently at defensive tackle for the Browns are:
RDT: Mason Graham, backup: Adin Huntington, depth: Sam Kamara, Travis Bell
LDT: Maliek Collins, backup: Mike Hall, depth: Kalia Davis, Elijah Chatman, Coziah Izzard
Typically, most NFL clubs keep four DTs and five defensive ends. The defensive tackles are then rotated in during each game in order to keep them fresh.
