The Cleveland Browns are undergoing noticeable changes on offense and defense this season. They could have as many as nine new starters on one side of the ball, and they lost one of the best players in the entire NFL on the other.
Not nearly as evident are the changes the Browns are making on special teams. While kicker Andre Szymt and punter Corey Bojorquez are likely to return to their high-profile jobs, the rest of the kicking units could look very different.
That includes rookie wide receiver KC Concepcion using his impressive tackle-avoiding skills as Cleveland’s punt returner. It would give the team potential field-position advantages that it has lacked in recent years.
With all of that in mind, insider Dan Labbe of Cleveland.com shared an encouraging outlook for the Browns’ special teams, which should be an overall plus rather than a minus this season.
“The Browns might have finally found an answer at kicker, but special teams was also one of the team’s biggest shortcomings in 2025. They can’t afford to have another bad year in the game’s third phase. Byron Storer is in as the new special teams coordinator. And the good news: They don’t have a kicking problem. The Browns’ path to winning this season remains the same: Play great defense, score just enough to win and have special teams be a plus. Last year, it was a minus. This year, they should perform better on the margins,” Labbe wrote.
After leaving college following the 2022 season, Szymt finally earned an NFL job with the Browns last year, taking over from Dustin Hopkins. After missing two crucial kicks in a one-point loss to the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 1, Szymt rebounded two weeks later with a 53-yard game-winning field goal against the Green Bay Packers in Week 3.
It strengthened his hold on the position, and he finished 24-of-27 in field goals (88.9 percent) and 25-of-26 in extra points (96.2 percent). Szymt was 5-for-6 on field goal attempts of 50 yards or longer.
Boroquez was re-signed after a down season, with a net average of just 37.0 yards per punt, but he was much better than that in his three previous seasons with Cleveland. He led the NFL with 93 punts, and as a result, the Browns gave up more punt return yards than any team in the NFL. When receiving kicks, the Browns ranked 25th in yards per punt return and 30th in yards per kickoff return.
Storer, who was the assistant special teams coordinator for the Green Bay Packers for the past four seasons, will have his work cut out for him in that area, but any improvement would be a boost for the Browns.
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