Ranking Every Cleveland Browns' Free Agent by Importance of Re-Signing

Free agency is just days away in the NFL, and the legal tampering period is just around the corner.

The Cleveland Browns currently have 19 unrestricted free agents, five restricted free agents, and seven exclusive rights free agents, out of which six have already been tendered.

Sorting out who to keep and who to let go is a critical part of the front office’s offseason, especially given the amount of names that pop up from the offensive line.

Here’s a ranking of every Cleveland Browns’ free agent by importance of re-signing, as the club gears up for the open market.

Sign them back, even if you have to overpay

Guard Joel Bitonio, linebacker Devin Bush Jr., punter Corey Bojorquez, safety Ronnie Hickman.

In Bitonio’s case, it would make all the sense in the world to keep him as long as he doesn’t plan to retire. He’s already a Browns legend, and Monken has already tried to convince him to come back. A new deal will also lower his cap hit mightily, instead of accelerating void year hits if he retires or signs elsewhere.

Bush is coming off a career year, and will likely look to explore the open market, but keeping the linebacker duo of Bush and Carson Schwesinger makes all the sense in the world for incoming defensive coordinator Mike Rutenberg.

Bojorquez is one of the steadiest punters in the league, and decent replacements are sometimes hard to come by.

As for Hickman, he’s already a starter, and restricted free agent tenders have become very expensive. Why not offer a three-year deal with guaranteed money in the first two years? The Browns could then cut him after 2027 with no dead cap charges if he’s underperforming, extend him if he’s overperforming, or just leave him out to play his final year in 2028.

Sign them back for the right price

Wide receiver DeAndre Carter, cornerback Martin Emerson, defensive tackle Shelby Harris, safety Rayshawn Jenkins, guard Teven Jenkins, center Ethan Pocic, defensive end Cameron Thomas

Pocic is the key here, as coming back would alleviate the Browns most pressing offseason need in addition to lowering his cap hit for expiring void years on his last deal. Same goes for Teven Jenkins, but he’s a lesser player and his cap relief would be minor, as well. But having at least one come back should help ease the transition in Cleveland.

Harris is a nice rotational piece up front on defense, same as Thomas, who’s earned some important minutes in the trenches. Rayshawn Jenkins’ experience is a plus in the back end.

Carter and Emerson are returning from injuries, so keeping them shouldn’t be financially difficult.

In the case of all these players, a hometown discount could be enough to stay in Cleveland.

They could walk, they could stay

Cornerback Tre Avery, linebacker Jerome Baker, running back Jerome Ford, defensive tackle Sam Kamara, cornerback Sam Webb, tight end Blake Whiteheart

Low end deals should be enough to convince most of these guys to stick around, with the exception of Ford, who looks like he’s gone.

Letting Kamara, Webb and Blakebeart hit the open market as restricted free agents, and then re-signing them on minimum deals will be cheaper than tendering them outright. Whiteheart could have a chance to earn some more playing time in the post-Njoku era.

Let’s move on

Offensive tackle Jack Conklin, cornerback Anthony Kendall, tight end David Njoku, offensive tackle Cam Robinson, cornerback De’Angelo Ross, guard Wyatt Teller, running back Trayveon Williams

Njoku and Teller already said goodbye, and Conklin won’t return, either. The Robinson trade was a disaster, so there’s no use in bringing him back.

Kendall was the only exclusive rights free agent that didn’t get tendered, so he’s gone, too.

Finding players to replace Williams or Ross shouldn’t be hard, either through free agency or low level draft picks.

They’re not going anywhere, for now

Tight end Brenden Bates, wide receiver Malachi Corley, linebacker Mohamoud Diabate, linebacker Winston Reid, long snapper Rex Sunahara, placekicker Andre Szmyt, wide receiver Jamari Thrash

Bates, Corley, Reid, Sunahara, Szmyt and Trash have already been tendered as exclusive rights free agents, meaning they cannot negotiate with any other team. As a restricted free agent, Diabate might be worth a right of first refusal tender, which enables the Browns to keep him for one season at around $3.5 million, but match any offer he could fetch from another team, as well.