Team news: Cleveland Browns | Page 4

The Browns are signing veteran WR Diontae Johnson, sources say. Cleveland brought the former Steelers and Ravens pass catcher in for a visit today, and the sides then agreed to a deal. Back to the AFC North for Johnson.

Related Players: Cedric Tillman, Jamari Thrash, Jerry Jeudy, DeAndre Carter, David Bell

This is a fantastic depth chart to land on for Johnson, but it would be all but impossible to trust him on fantasy squads after the tour of the NFL he's been on over the last year. If he gets cut and goes to the Bengals, he will have earned the ultra-rare Grand Slam tour of the entire division.

Reunion: the Cleveland Browns and veteran quarterback Joe Flacco reached agreement today on a one-year, $4 million deal worth up to $13 million with incentives. Flacco now will return to Cleveland, where he won the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year award in 2023.

Flacco also spoke with the Steelers and Vikings but opted to spend his 18th NFL season with the Browns.

Related Players: Deshaun Watson, Kenny Pickett

It's interesting that the team didn't just retain Jameis Winston, considering he signed a very similar deal with the Giants earlier this offseason. Regardless, Flacco will team up with Pickett as the veteran backstops in case a potential rookie option needs time to get up to speed in the league.

The Jets are cutting WR Davante Adams, per source.

Unable to find a trade partner for the 3x All-Pro, New York is moving on and freeing up almost $30M in cap space.

Related Players: Garrett Wilson, Allen Lazard, Malachi Corley, Xavier Gipson

Adams played in 11 games for the 5-12 Jets, and it looks like he could end up joining Aaron Rodgers somewhere else in 2025. Lazard is also almost guaranteed to be playing elsewhere next season, as New York will try to regroup under new head coach Aaron Glenn.

Browns game status for Week 17 vs. the Dolphins:

Jameis Winston - questionable
David Njoku, Ogbo Okoronkwo and Cedric Tillman - out

Related Players: Jordan Akins

With Njoku out Akins should get plenty of run, but it's not quite enough to stick him in TE streaming considerations.

Browns TE David Njoku has a knee injury.

Related players: Jordan Akins

There isn't much more about the injury. Njoku was dealing with a hamstring injury coming into the game but still put up a 8-66-0 line in a Week 16 loss. Njoku has been on fire as of late, despite not playing in Week 15. He had a 7-42-1 line in Week 14 and a 9-52-2 line in Week 13. It doesn't seem to matter who the QB is, Njoku has been heavily involved so those counting on him in what is likely your Week 17 finals will want to monitor his practice schedule this week. The Browns host the Dolphins in a later Sunday window game.

Rookie WR Malachi Corley was active yesterday, but did not get in the game. Ulbrich's explanation:

Corley has made "major improvement in maturity, but at the same time, (he) still has a ways to go. Still has a ways to go from an offensive perspective. And as we all know, if you're going to be the fourth receiver -- because of the talent within that room -- you have to find a significant role on special teams."

It's not a great sign for Corley, as the trend is rookie WRs need to make impacts in their first season to have it translate to a valuable fantasy career. At this point, Corley is probably only a household name in the dynasty community. As Cimini pointed out in his post, the Jets traded up to take him at the top of the 3rd round. Cimini also wondered if the coaching staff doesn't think he's ready from a maturity standpoint, what did they miss in the pre-draft evaluation process?

Browns game status for Week 16 vs. the Bengals:

Martin Emerson Jr., David Njoku and Cedric Tillman - questionable

Shelby Harris - out

Related Players: Jordan Akins, Jerry Jeudy, Elijah Moore

There are far better streamers available than Akins if Njoku is ruled out, even in a great matchup.

As for the WRs, Jeudy should continue to roll along as a WR3, regardless of Tillman's status.

Browns Kevin Stefanski said he's not sure yet if Nick Chubb will need surgery on his broken foot but said it's a "shorter-term recovery time" for Chubb.

Related players: Jerome Ford, D'Onta Foreman, Pierre Strong Jr.

Chubb will still be out for the season but it seems like he'll be ready to hit the field for the 2025 season, wherever that will end up being for Chubb. For this season, Ford took over for Chubb and ran seven times for 84 yards and a TD, including a 62-yard burst. He had two catches for 20 as well. He should be the team's RB1 going forward and could even be on your waiver wire.

Browns rule out WR Cedric Tillman (concussion) for Sunday vs.
Chiefs.
TE David Njoku (hamstring), LG Joel Bitonio (back), DT Mike Hall Jr. (knee), CB Myles Harden (tibia) listed as questionable.

Related Players: Jordan Akins, Jerry Jeudy, Elijah Moore

Akins shouldn't be considered a streaming TE option if Njoku misses Sunday's game, as the team has already mentioned that they'll use a "tight end by committee" approach.

As for the WR group, we should expect things to remain top-heavy, with Jeudy operating as a fantasy WR2 and Moore as a low-end WR3.

Browns David Njoku (hamstring) is likely to sit on Sunday vs. the Chiefs ... OC Ken Dorsey says if he can't play, they'll go tight end by committee

Related Players: Jordan Akins, Blake Whiteheart

Obviously not a great sign for Akins' possibility as a TE streamer if Njoku misses. We can safely ignore the situation if their TE1 doesn't go Sunday.