The Cleveland Browns have taken this year’s offseason and made quite a few changes. Make that, a lot of changes. It began with the head coach and almost all of the coaching staff. The offense needed quite a bit, and so GM Andrew Berry focused more on this side of the ball since the franchise hired an offensive-minded coach to lead the team.
RELATED: BEST/WORST MOVES OF THE OFFSEASON
Berry has signed eight reserve/futures contracts, plus through free agency, 2025 roster re-signings, and the recent NFL
draft. There have been a total of 19 offensive players, 20 defenders, and three specialists who have been issued a contract from the end of the season to this week.
That’s 47 new players that Berry has negotiated with. The roster limit during the season is 53 on the main roster. Even if half of these new guys make the roster, that is a ton of turnover. Not to mention all of the new assistant coaches.
With new players, that means the possibility of jobs being taken away.
Here are three Browns veterans who could be on the hot seat to lose their positions as the 2026 NFL season begins.
C Luke Wypler
At the end of last season, Wypler was starting at center after Ethan Pocic suffered a season-ending torn Achilles tendon in Week 14. Down the stretch, he came in and played 234 offensive snaps. Wypler was selected in the sixth round of the 2023 NFL draft as a backup and a developmental player who could one day take over the center spot.
Pocic was a free agent, and Berry never re-signed him to keep him in-house. But the probability that 2026 Wypler may not become Cleveland’s starting center began in free agency.
Berry inked veteran Elgton Jenkins in free agency after he was released from the Green Bay Packers. Jenkins had established himself as one of the most versatile offensive linemen in the league because he was capable of playing all five offensive line positions. He had 94 NFL starts and had played four different positions on the line (67 at LG, 13 at C, eight at LT, six at RT). And while Jenkins may end up at guard or tackle before training camp is completed, for now, he is penciled in at starting center.
But the story doesn’t end there. In the draft, Berry chose C Parker Brailsford out of Alabama in Round 5, who had been selected to the All-SEC Third Team. In three years of college ball at Washington and Alabama, Brailsford played two games at right guard and the remainder at center. However, he was a guard in high school.
LINK: GET TO KNOW C PARKER BRAILSFORD
While Jenkins may be the starter listed on the depth chart for the time being, if Brailsford has a very good training camp, he could push Jenkins to another position and be the new starter. He has traits like Tyler Linderbaum, who was the Baltimore Ravens’ center under then-offensive coordinator Todd Monken, who runs the Browns now. Cleveland offensive line coach George Warhop coached Linderbaum in Baltimore as well.
The new offensive line configuration will begin with the center position. During OTAs, Monken has been using rookies with veterans in most position groups. If Brailsford begins getting more first-team reps, this would allow Warhop to move Jenkins off center and insert him in another area of need, or have him compete with either Tytus Howard at RT, Zion Johnson at LG, or become a swing O-lineman when somebody is injured.
Yes, it will be a three-way competition for the starting center, and in the end, it could mean that Wypler is once again the backup or could find himself at third-string if he doesn’t ball out in training camp.
WR Cedric Tillman
This might be pretty obvious. Berry grabbed a pair of receivers early in this year’s NFL draft, taking KC Concepcion from Texas A&M in the bottom of Round 1, and then the next draft pick was Washington’s Denzel Boston with pick #39 in Round 2.
LINK: GET TO KNOW WR KC CONCEPCION
The expectations have been that Tillman would man one of the outside receiver spots, but those thought waves are shrinking. Tillman is a former third-round pick, and the Browns still are using words such as “develop,” “value,” and “eventual contributor.”
However, Tillman has been in the league since 2023. His best production came in his second year when he had 49 targets, 29 catches, and gained 339 yards with three touchdowns. On no planet is production such as this considered useful. His “developmental” status is long past. Last year was the time to explode with the offense and become a key performer. 833 total yards gained in three years is nothing to write Grandma about.
And now, Berry saw the writing on the wall with Tillman and selected two new guys in this year’s NFL draft, and both are expected to start right away. Receivers are able to convert from the college level to the professional ranks seamlessly.
Last year, Tillman had a hamstring injury and has missed numerous games in his three seasons, including several concussions. His injury history makes his situation feel even more uncertain.
His attraction was his ability to get up and grab contested passes with his 6’-3”, 215-pound frame. But he hasn’t proven to be a Red Zone target or the go-to guy in key third-down situations. And now, here comes Boston and his 6’-4”, 212-pound frame. Suddenly, the allure of Tillman is ghosting.
Couple that with multiple injuries and low production, and the fact that now that Concepcion and Boston are in the house, Tillman’s starting position is most likely gone. There might be a logjam at receiver with the Browns, coupled with Jamari Thrash and Isaiah Bond, and most likely, one of the aforementioned might be shipped off to a WR-needy team.
LT Dawand Jones
To begin the 2025 season, the Browns’ starting offensive line was one guy short of being the same group that was ranked #3 in 2023: RT Jack Conklin, RG Wyatt Teller, C Ethan Pocic, LG Joel Bitonio, and LT Dawand Jones. The only player that was different was Jones in place of Jed Wills.
As the season rolled along, this starting lineup became diluted due to injuries, which is something that happens quite a bit with Cleveland’s offensive line each year.
The 2025 season was Jones’ third with the Browns. Each of the first two years, he ended up on IR. True to form, in Week 3 against the Green Bay Packers, Jones went down with a knee injury on the fifth play of the game. Another season-ending injury as he again had to recover from surgery, which this time was to repair an LCL tear and a hamstring avulsion in his knee. The only silver lining is that this issue occurred very early in the season, which gave Jones more time to heal and rehab.
Three injuries in three seasons. Ouch. When the Browns opened voluntary minicamp last month, Jones was present and practiced. With his experience playing either tackle spot, he has good enough traits and know-how to grab the starting LT position again.
LINK: GET TO KNOW OT SPENCER FANO
Before the NFL draft, Jones was listed on most depth charts as just that: starting LT. Then Berry took Spencer Fano out of Utah with the #9 overall pick in Round 1. If the position were wide open, Fano would simply slide into the job. But here is Jones. Now, Jones can challenge RT Howard for his spot, but Howard was obtained in a trade and has started the past two years at right tackle while with the Houston Texans. Not that he cannot be supplanted, but in all reasoning, Howard is the Browns’ new right tackle going forward.
That leaves Jones the option to stay at left tackle and battle it out with Fano. He restructured his rookie deal, which cut his projected non-guaranteed $3.6 million to $1.5 million.
Just because Fano was taken in the first round does not mean the position is already his; he will have to work at taking it away from Jones, who has started 20 NFL games to Fano’s zero. The question is, will this coaching staff try to force him to start, or just not rush him? Maybe Jones is just going to hold the fort until he is ready.
Then again, it may be Jones’ spot to win and keep. Until he is hurt again?
Which of these 3 vets do you think is most likely to be off the Browns 53-man roster? Who do you think has the best chance to stick around?
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