Inside The Huskies

Browns Cut Veteran Center, Expected to Give Job to Harris

The former UW standout has been groomed to become the Cleveland starter.
Dan Raley|
Browns Cut Veteran Center, Expected to Give Job to Harris
Browns Cut Veteran Center, Expected to Give Job to Harris

In this story:

Washington HuskiesCleveland Browns

The Cleveland Browns on Tuesday released starting center JC Tretter, presumably making the position available to former University of Washington standout Nick Harris.

The 6-foot-4, 307-pound Tretter, 31, has played 10 seasons, five for the Green Bay Packers and the past five for the Browns. He currently is president of the NFL Players Association.

Harris, 23, has been in the league for a pair of seasons and appeared in 23 games, making a spot start at guard as a rookie and at center this past fall. He was the Browns' fifth-round pick in the 2020 draft.

Two reasons emerge for Cleveland to make this move: 1) It's clearly a cost-cutting measure that will save the franchise $8.2 million against the salary cap, and 2) the Browns feel the 6-foot-1, 293-pound Harris is ready to take over.

Beginning as a true freshman at the UW, Harris started 42 of 52 games, 25 of 27 coming at center as a junior and a senior. Each season over the ball, he was named the first-team All-Pac-12 center.

He appeared in 11 games this past season for the Browns, missing six because of a hamstring issue.

On Christmas Day, Harris made his first NFL start at center, drawing high marks for his performance in a 24-22 loss to the Packers.

Go to si.com/college/washington to read the latest Husky FanNation stories as soon as they’re published.

Not all stories are posted on the fan sites.

Find Husky FanNation on Facebook by searching: Husky Maven/Sports Illustrated

Follow Dan Raley of Husky FanNation on Twitter: @DanRaley1 and @HuskyMaven

Published
Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

Home/Husky Legends