These Cleveland Browns Have Expiring Contracts After 2026 Season

With a few months to go before the start of the 2026 NFL Regular Season, it’s always wise to keep one eye on the future.

As the Cleveland Browns pile up a bunch of new contracts, either through free agency or the NFL Draft, and restructure a few more, it’s always worth a while to take a look at expiring deals to get a sense at what the roster will need in the mid-term future.

Here’s a list of all 40 Browns players who are set to play on expiring contracts at the end of the upcoming NFL season:  

Let’s move on

Deshaun Watson

Not to pile on, but Cleveland just needs this to be over with. Forget Jimmy Haslam’s comments of Watson turning a “swing and miss” into a “home run.” This is without a doubt one of the worst trades in the history of the league, and the sooner the Browns get over it, the better.

Bad news is, having Watson off the roster in 2027 doesn’t mean he’ll be off the books. He’ll likely account for around $35 million in dead money for 2027 and $51 million in 2028 due to the contract restructures done in the past, spreading out his hits over void years after the money has already been handed over.

But not having Watson on the roster will nonetheless feel like a giant weight lifted off the Browns’ collective shoulders, as they probably embark on yet another quarterback search.

This could be an issue

Grant Delpit, Maliek Collins, Ronnie Hickman, Dawand Jones, Corey Bojorquez, Andre Smzyt

Ideally, Cleveland won’t have to lose both starting safeties and both kicking specialists at once. That’s why handing Hickman a multi-year deal now made sense, instead of just tendering him as a restricted free agent. Jones could find a way to make himself valuable enough to keep around if the Browns’ offensive line overhaul doesn’t go as planned, and Collins already showed what he can do in this defense. Sure, he’s days away from turning 31, but defensive tackle is a position that allows some longevity in the league.

The one-year rentals

Kalia Davis, Jack Stoll, Teven Jenkins, Tylan Wallace, Rex Sunahara

In Jenkins and Sunahara’s case, they were re-signed. At the moment, Jenkins is looking at possibly riding the bench once again, after Todd Monken’s comments regarding Elgton Jenkins, and long snappers aren’t usually a roster priority, which is bad news for Sunahara. Davis, Stoll and Wallace were brought in as free agents on low-level deals, so the team isn’t betting too much on them.

They need to really step up

Ahmani Marshall, Greg Larvadain, Nathaniel Watson, Winston Reid, Isaiah McGuire, Luke Wypler, Cedric Tillman, Jamari Thrash, Malachi Corley, Tre Avery, D’Angelo Ross, Blake Whiteheart

All of these players have been afforded the opportunity to leave a mark on game day, and seldom has that occurred. Larvadain could see his return specialist role threatened by Wallace, while Whiteheart could see the same happen with Stoll.

Wideouts Tillman, Thrash and Corley haven’t done remotely enough when seeing the field, and there’s a lot of space to grow for cornerbacks Avery and Ross, as well. McGuire can make a difference if he commits. Linebackers Watson and Reid will get some chances as well. Wypler is the hardest one here to project, because as things stand now, he would have to step in as the team’s starting center. It’s very likely that his eventual substitute as part of the O-Line haul just hasn’t arrived yet.

Last chance to make something happen

Sam Kamara, Julian Okwara, Kendrick Green, Tyre Phillips, Brenden Bates, Sal Cannella, Caden Prieskorn, Edefuan Ulofoshio, Chris Edmonds, Kinglsey Eguakun, Dom Jones, Jeremiah Byers, Nik Constantinou, Isaiah Wooden, Jack Conley, Luke Floriea

The team was probably high on a few names on this list, but returns have been minimal on all of them. These are players that are usually on the bubble week to week, and a number of these names won’t make it past the final cuts when the regular season gets here. Others will find a way to latch on.