The Cleveland Browns got some good news on Thursday as safety Ronnie Hickman is officially under contract for the upcoming season. He signed his restricted free agent tender.
It was evident that Hickman would remain with the Browns when the April 17 deadline for restricted free agents to sign elsewhere came and went.
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Hickman is considered a key component to the fabric of the defensive backfield. He is paired with Grant Delpit, who are both very active tacklers.
With the
signing of the tender, Hickman will make $5.8 million this year. The action will also allow him to become an unrestricted free agent after the 2026 season. Cleveland had placed a second-round tender on him.
Hickman is entering his fourth season with the Browns after going undrafted out of Ohio State in 2023. He made the final roster and was mainly a special teams player. In his second season, his defensive snaps increased to 52% of defensive reps. This past season, he played on 1,039 snaps, or 99% of defensive plays. He also had 145 special teams reps.
In 2025, Hickman had 103 total tackles with 1 tackle for loss, 7 batted passes, 1 hurry, 1 pressure, and 12 missed tackles.
The safety room for the Browns is shaking out to be an elite group now with Hickman under wraps. Along with Delpit, Donovan McMillon showed tremendous improvement as his rookie season rolled along and was a special-teams demon. Then, in this year’s April NFL draft, the team selected Emmanuel McNeil-Warren out of Toledo in Round 2. EMW was projected to be taken late in the first round.
Also under contract in the safety group are Myles Bryant, Chris Edmonds, Daniel Thomas, and Zion Washington.
The Browns stated after last year that they wanted to keep as much of their defense the same as when Jim Schwartz led them to the league’s #4 overall best defense in 2025. Hickman becomes a key aspect of that goal.
