The Cleveland Browns are over the salary cap and are going to have a tough time improving the roster via free agency, which places added emphasis on the 2026 draft. Luckily, general manager Andrew Berry has ten draft picks at his disposal, so it shouldn’t be hard to inject this team with some much-needed young talent.
The Browns also have plenty of talent hitting free agency, as well as some players who were sent packing prior to this offseason. One former Brown was recently named as a potential sneaky signing this offseason and tabbed as a potential surprise next season.
The Browns traded cornerback Greg Newsome II to the Jacksonville Jaguars ahead of the 2025 trade deadline for Tyson Campbell, and Newsome is now a free agent.
Zachary Pereles of CBS Sports recently wrote about some sneaky free-agent options around the league, and he named Newsome as someone who is a major bounce-back candidate.
“Greg Newsome II also split the 2025 season between two teams, going from the Browns to the Jaguars. The 2021 first-round pick hasn’t been able to recapture the form he had early in his career, but he is just 25 years old, and he was one of the NFL’s better corners from 2021-23. He has good length and can play in the slot. He’s a prime bounce-back candidate in the right landing spot,” Pereles wrote.
Newsome wasn’t quite as effective after 2023 and he was banged up quite a few times during his Browns tenure, which surely contributed to the Browns opting to ship him out in a rare corner-for-corner trade. He’ll surely make some team very happy this offseason, and hopefully he secures a nice bag for himself.
However, the Browns have issues of their own they need to worry about. The defense still has to find ways to add depth at corner, and with Jim Schwartz no longer serving as defensive coordinator, Mike Rutenberg has some real work to do.
Campbell was a seamless replacement for Newsome and isn’t a free agent yet, so the trade has already been a win. A Browns/Newsome reunion won’t be in the cards this offseason, but both parties should find themselves in a good place come Week 1.
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