The Cleveland Browns signed veteran free agent cornerback Nik Needham on Monday.
Terms were not disclosed by the team.
Needham, 28, has six interceptions and 25 passes defensed in 63 career games (27 starts) with the Miami Dolphins, who signed 6-foot-1 defensive back as an undrafted free agent in 2019. He also has 200 tackles and three sacks.
Needham played the 2024 season on a one-year deal worth $1.292 million.
–Field Level Media
Quarterback Joe Flacco is rejoining the Cleveland Browns on a reported one-year, $4 million contract.
The Browns confirmed the agreement Friday and Flacco’s agent, Joe Linta, confirmed the figures to ESPN.
Flacco, 40, spent the 2024 season with the Indianapolis Colts after earning NFL Comeback Player of the Year honors with the Browns in 2023.
Flacco, who also met with the Minnesota Vikings and Pittsburgh Steelers this offseason, can earn up to $13 million with incentives, per his agent.
A Super Bowl XLVII MVP with Baltimore, Flacco played his first 11 seasons with the Ravens (2008-18) before moving on to the Denver Broncos (2019), New York Jets (2020-22), Browns and Colts.
Heading into his 18th season, Flacco ranks 12th in NFL history in pass completions (4,166), 14th in attempts (6,751), 18th in yards (45,697) and tied for 22nd in passing touchdowns (257). His overall record is 105-86, including a 4-1 mark with the Browns in 2023.
Flacco joins a depth chart in Cleveland that includes the injured Deshaun Watson (Achilles) and newcomer Kenny Pickett, who won a Super Bowl with the Philadelphia Eagles last season. Watson could miss most or all of the 2025 season.
The Browns also have the No. 2 overall pick in this month’s draft and have met with top prospects Cam Ward, Shedeur Sanders, Jalen Milroe and Jaxson Dart, among others.
–Field Level Media
The Cleveland Browns took a major step toward playing in a new retractable-roof stadium by 2028 after owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam committed $2 billion to make the venue happen, ESPN reported Tuesday.
The team posted a video with an artist’s rendering of the new stadium and surrounding property, which will be built in nearby Brook Park, Ohio, near Cleveland Hopkins International Airport.
The team’s lease at their current stadium, near downtown Cleveland and on the edge of Lake Erie, is set to run through 2028. The team moved into the venue in 1999.
“The Cleveland Browns and our community need and deserve a new home — and from the outset we have been unequivocal that it must positively benefit our community and Northeast Ohio,” the Haslams said in a statement. “The proposed Huntington Bank Field in Brook Park meets this vital objective and will reflect positively on our world-class region and its promising future. It also reflects our 100 percent commitment to keeping the Browns in their home market for generations to come.”
The Browns have made the playoffs just three times since the franchise was reestablished in 1999. They were 3-14 in 2024 while giving starts to four different quarterbacks, including Deshaun Watson and Jameis Winston for seven games apiece.
The previous version of the Browns franchise played at Cleveland Stadium from 1946-95.
–Field Level Media
Free-agent quarterback Russell Wilson will meet with both the Cleveland Browns and New York Giants this week, multiple outlets reported, as he looks to join his third team in four seasons.
Wilson, 36, played his first 10 seasons with the Seattle Seahawks, but has been on the move of late after playing two seasons with the Denver Broncos and spending last season with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Wilson passed for 2,482 yards with 16 touchdowns and five interceptions in 11 starts for the Steelers last season, while going 6-5. He missed time with a calf injury as the Steelers ended the season 10-7 and lost 28-14 to the Baltimore Ravens in the wild-card round of the playoffs.
Wilson was 20-of-29 passing against the Ravens for 270 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions.
The Browns, who went 3-14 last season, will be without quarterback Deshaun Watson in 2025 because of an Achilles injury that required surgery. The Giants, who also went 3-14, moved on from quarterback Daniel Jones last season.
In 199 career NFL games, Wilson has completed 64.7 percent of his passes for 46,135 yards, 350 TDs and 111 interceptions. A 10-tme Pro Bowler, Wilson led the Seahawks to a 43-8 victory over the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII following the 2013 season.
–Field Level Media
The Cleveland Browns are releasing starting safety Juan Thornhill in a salary-cutting move, multiple outlets reported Monday.
Thornhill, 29, has one year remaining on the three-year, $21 million deal he signed with the Browns in March 2023.
Cleveland will clear $3.4 million in cap space by releasing Thornhill as a post-June 1 designation.
“Greater things to come. One day at a time,” Thornhill posted Saturday on X.
Thornhill also texted Cleveland.com that the Browns’ decision is “probably best for us both.”
He recorded 103 tackles and four passes defensed in 22 games (all starts) with the Browns the past two seasons.
Thornhill missed six games in 2023 and six more in 2024 with a calf injury.
A two-time Super Bowl winner with Kansas City, Thornhill has 337 tackles and eight interceptions in 87 games (74 starts) with the Chiefs (2019-22) and Browns.
–Field Level Media
Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson experienced a post-surgery setback in his recovery from a ruptured Achilles, general manager Andrew Berry said Monday.
Berry was informed Sunday that Watson’s recovery went off track but he’s unclear whether the timeline for Watson’s return to the field has changed.
“Yesterday as we went through our normal player medical process, we did learn he did have a setback in his Achilles recovery. We don’t have all the details and everything yet, but it will obviously extend the recovery process for him,” Berry said.
Asked whether Watson could require another Achilles operation, Berry wasn’t definitive about the next steps.
“I don’t have all of those details,” Berry said Monday. “He did raise it to the doctors. I’m not trying to be evasive here. It’s all really new.”
The Browns reworked Watson’s contract last month to soften the salary cap hit for 2025 and have said they plan to address their QB position. Injuries have been a constant of Watson’s tenure in Cleveland since he signed a $230 million fully guaranteed contract.
Watson, 29, played seven games in 2024 and ended the season on injured reserve because of surgery for the second consecutive season. Watson played 12 total games in his first two seasons with the Browns (2022-23).
Cleveland started Bailey Zappe in Saturday’s loss at Baltimore and fired offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey after one season. Head coach Kevin Stefanski was noncommittal about his QB plans for 2024 and Berry again on Monday said the Browns were planning to pursue other quarterbacks before they learned of the latest Watson news.
“I wouldn’t say it has a significant impact,” Berry said.
–Field Level Media
The Cincinnati Bengals will look for a season-best third straight win to keep their faint playoff hopes alive when they host the Cleveland Browns on Sunday.
Both teams had high expectations when the NFL schedule came out in May. But both have endured disappointing seasons, and the game was flexed out of its original Thursday night spot.
The Bengals (6-8) are coming off consecutive road wins at Dallas and Tennessee.
The Browns (3-11) have dropped three straight and are making another quarterback change.
On Wednesday, coach Kevin Stefanski announced Dorian Thompson-Robinson as the new starting quarterback after Jameis Winston was benched during a 21-7 loss to Kansas City last weekend.
“A young player that’s really gotten better in every area,” Stefanski said of Thompson-Robinson. “He’s done a very, very good job of getting up to speed on all the nuance of the position. He’s done a very good job of keeping himself prepared for when a moment comes that he’s being put in there. So he’s really taken the preparation part of this really well.”
Winston threw 13 touchdowns and amassed 2,121 yards through the air. But the former No. 1 overall pick tossed 12 interceptions, including eight in the three-game skid.
Thompson-Robinson started three games as a rookie in 2023. This season, in four games, he is 15 of 34 for 100 yards with three interceptions.
For the Bengals, last Sunday’s 37-27 win over the Titans marked the 400th regular-season win in franchise history and Joe Burrow set a new single-season team record with his 36th touchdown pass.
Ja’Marr Chase remains in contention for the receiver’s triple crown, as he leads the NFL in receptions (102), receiving yards (1,413) and touchdowns (15).
The Bengals created six turnovers Sunday but committed four themselves, while committing a season-high 14 penalties.
“I’m happy we won — I don’t take that lightly,” head coach Zac Taylor said. “There are a lot of really positive things that we highlighted with the team that we did well. We got turnovers, scored off those turnovers. So, there was a lot of really good stuff there. The 14 penalties is not us. We addressed every single one of those. There’s things that we can continue to clean up.”
Cincinnati enters this week with an opportunity to sweep the Browns for the first time since the 2017 season. The Bengals beat the Browns, 21-14, at Cleveland in Week 7, as Burrow threw a pair of TD passes in the third quarter and the defense held the Browns to just 77 net rushing yards.
Through 15 weeks, Burrow leads the NFL in completions (361), passing attempts (527), passing yards (3,977) and TD passes (36). He has passed for at least 250 yards and three touchdowns in each of Cincinnati’s past six games, joining former New England quarterback Tom Brady as the only players in league history to reach those marks in six straight contests.
The Browns continue to deal with bad injury luck, having already lost quarterback Deshaun Watson to a torn Achilles in Cleveland’s first game against Cincinnati on Oct. 20. In last Sunday’s home loss to Kansas City, the Browns lost running back Nick Chubb for the season to a broken foot. Jerome Ford will take his place.
Cleveland cornerback Martin Emerson (concussion) and defensive end Shelby Harris (elbow) did not participate in practice on Wednesday. Wide receivers Jerry Jeudy (knee) and Cedric Tillman (concussion) were limited.
Four Bengals did not practice Wednesday: left tackle Orlando Brown (fibula) and defensive linemen Sam Hubbard (knee), Kris Jenkins (illness) and Sheldon Rankins (illness). Burrow was limited with right wrist and knee injuries.
–Field Level Media
Dorian Thompson-Robinson will take over at quarterback for the Cleveland Browns in place of Jameis Winston, beginning with Sunday’s road game against the , Cincinnati Bengals, multiple outlets reported Tuesday.
Thompson-Robinson, a fifth-round draft pick in 2023 out of UCLA, has come off the bench in four games this season, completing 15 of 34 passes for 100 yards and three interceptions.
The 25-year-old made starts in three of his eight appearances as a rookie last season, completing 53.6 percent of his passes for 440 yards, one touchdown and four interceptions. A concussion led to Joe Flacco taking over in Week 14.
In addition to the concussion, Thompson-Robinson dealt with shoulder and hip injuries in 2023.
Known for his mobility, Thompson-Robinson has 125 yards rushing in 20 attempts the past two seasons.
Taking over for an injured Deshaun Watson in Week 8, Winston went 2-5 as Cleveland’s starter. He has completed 61.1 percent of his passes this season for 2,121 yards, 13 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. Eight of those picks have come in the past three weeks as the Browns went 0-3.
–Field Level Media
