Team news: Cleveland Browns | Page 5

The Browns placed quarterback Deshaun Watson on the active/physically unable to perform list, among several moves they announced Tuesday.

Watson underwent a second surgery on his torn Achilles on Jan. 10 and is not expected to be ready to practice for a few months. The Browns are expected to place him on reserve/PUP before the season, forcing him to miss at least the first four games.

Related players: Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett, Dillon Gabriel, Shedeur Sanders.

The Browns are expected to place him on reserve/PUP before the season, forcing him to miss at least the first four games, the story said. It's been reported Watson will likely miss most or all of 2025. Gabriel and Sanders are two rookies who will battle with Flacco and Pickett for the starting job.

According to the Broward County Clerk of Courts office, no court date has yet been set for the next step in the legal process in Browns 2nd-round pick Quinshon Judkins' domestic violence case.

Related players: Dylan Sampson, Jerome Ford

He was arrested on July 12 and released the following day on a $2,500 bond the post went on to say. Needless to say, things are up in the air right now for Judkins and there are a lot of possibilities as far as how this plays out. As far as fantasy goes, dynasty owners are the ones likely following this story the closest. For those in redraft leagues, or for those who already drafted fellow rookie Sampson, both Sampson and Ford would benefit the most if Judkins has to miss any kind of time.

Jets and wide receiver Garrett Wilson reached agreement on a four-year, $130 million contract extension that includes $90 million guaranteed.

It marks the first time in NFL history that a receiver has received an average over $31 million after playing only three seasons. Wilson now will be under contract the next six seasons, through 2030.

Related Players: Josh Reynolds, Allen Lazard, Arian Smith, Malachi Corley

This is a massive vote of confidence from a team that desperately needs Wilson to play out of his mind to support a middling group of pass-catchers. Justin Fields isn't likely to be a voluminous passer, but Wilson presents an obvious opportunity to soak up a ton of the target share in 2025. We currently have him ranked as a mid-tier WR2.

After a strong offseason, Reynolds is the clear-cut leader for the WR2 job. He arrived with little fanfare as a free agent (one year, $2.8 million), mainly because of a down 2024 with the Broncos and Jaguars. It also was a turbulent year; he suffered arm and head wounds in a shooting.

New Jets coach Aaron Glenn knows Reynolds from their time in Detroit, where the 30-year-old receiver was a solid complementary option. Beyond Garrett Wilson, the Jets lack big-play ability after cutting Davante Adams. Reynolds has separated from Allen Lazard and others.

Related Players: Tyler Johnson, Arian Smith, Malachi Corley

This seems a little surprising, until you look at the rest of the depth chart, that is. With Justin Fields at the helm, we should expect a very run-heavy offense in New York, and even if he loses the job, we would expect more of the same from Tyrod Taylor. Reynolds makes for an interesting stacking partner with Fields, though he's much closer to a fantasy WR5 than a WR2.

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.

For Baltimore-Houston:
— Ravens WR Zay Flowers, questionable with a shoulder injury, is expected to play.
— Texans WR Diontae Johnson, just acquired via waivers, is planning to make his Houston debut in Week 18 vs. the Titans. Today is too quick.

Related Players: Rashod Bateman, Nelson Agholor, Tylan Wallace

This is a nice Christmas Day matchup for Flowers, so keep him locked into WR2 range if he's ready by kickoff.

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?