The 12-1 Kansas City Chiefs will be in Cleveland Sunday hoping to take another step toward securing the AFC’s No. 1 seed. The 3-10 Browns are trying to snap a losing streak and play spoiler.
The Browns, quite obviously, are playing for the future. They’re sticking with Jameis Winston at quarterback and are a veteran group in most spots, but the season’s final four games should provide them a chance to insert young players into certain rotations and evaluate those who have potentially complicated contracts going forward.
With where the Browns are headed from a roster and salary-cap standpoint, almost everything is going to be complicated. Here are four spots worth tracking over the final four weeks, even before we know if the Browns plan to retain general manager Andrew Berry and other key decision-makers after this season.
Running back
We’ve seen signs of life from the Browns’ run game over the last three weeks. It’s not parade-worthy or even consistently league-average stuff, but it’s been markedly better than it was for much of the season. Like Winston making the offense competent and watchable, we’re dealing with a low bar here.
Nick Chubb is the starter following his October return from knee surgery, and he said he’s still using every practice and game “to get better physically and mentally.” Chubb is becoming more confident with every broken tackle and cut. Jerome Ford is proving, again, that he’s best fit as a No. 2 running back getting about 10 touches per game.
Can the Browns use the run game to play keep-away from Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes this weekend? That’s a sensible part of any blueprint if the Browns hope to break the Chiefs’ streak of 15 consecutive wins in one-score games. Chubb had 20 carries and two touchdowns when Cleveland beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 12, but he’s totaled just 20 carries since — likely in part because the Browns are limiting his workload and because Ford is better in must-pass situations when the team is trailing.
When Chubb was asked if he’s considered shutting it down for the season with the Browns eliminated from playoff contention, he essentially said he’s thinking the opposite and is still trying to play himself back to full speed. Chubb had a 19-yard run last week, his longest of the season.
Ford is looking to get at least 45 all-purpose yards for the third straight game this week. The Browns want to use the run to set up play-action pass, and they want to continue to evaluate their running back situation as a whole. Chubb does not have a contract for next year, and Ford is extension-eligible in 2025 ahead of the final year of his rookie deal.
As he’s said before, Chubb mentioned this week that he hopes to play his entire career in Cleveland. But he also said there have been no talks about his future, and at this point it’s impossible to know if Cleveland’s next two home games will be the last for Chubb, who turns 29 later this month.
We’re looking ahead here, not back at previous years or at the team’s failure to build a strong running back room in the offseason with Chubb coming off surgery. But the Browns didn’t want short-yardage specialist Kareem Hunt back, and the Chiefs visit this week with Hunt as their No. 2 runner now that Isiah Pacheco has returned.
Hunt spent seven games as the Chiefs’ primary runner in Pacheco’s absence and has rushed for 608 yards and five touchdowns. The Browns have six rushing touchdowns as a team on the season, led by Chubb’s three. The Browns’ top three running backs — Chubb, Ford and D’Onta Foreman — have 813 rushing yards on the season. Cleveland ranks 31st at 3.8 yards per rush and 23rd in rush success rate at 36.2 percent.
Foreman has been a healthy scratch the last several weeks and doesn’t seem to fit into the team’s plans going forward.
Cornerback
Greg Newsome II was placed on injured reserve this week and is done for the season, though Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said Newsome doesn’t need surgery on his injured hamstring.
Next up in the slot role will be second-year cornerback Cameron Mitchell. Seventh-round rookie Myles Harden is going to be activated from IR ahead of Sunday’s game and could end up seeing action in the coming weeks. The Browns were impressed by what they saw in training camp from Harden, who hasn’t played since Week 1.
Mitchell has only played more than 20 snaps in three games this season, so his workload should increase significantly. He should expect to be targeted frequently, though. Per Pro Football Focus, opponents have completed 13 of 18 passes when targeting Mitchell this season at an average of 10.0 yards per completion.
Martin Emerson Jr. and Denzel Ward will remain the starting outside cornerbacks, with Ward looking to close an outstanding year and Emerson looking to finish strongly in what’s been a disappointing season. The preseason thought that the Browns might have the league’s best cornerback group is long gone, though Ward should be back in the Pro Bowl following what might be his best season.
The Steelers only threw at Ward once last week, and that could continue. Ward has a league-high 19 pass breakups, though at least a few of those are dropped interceptions.
Emerson is extension-eligible after the season. He still could end up getting a long-term deal before next season, but it doesn’t figure to be an immediate priority with the Browns facing a long list of decisions in shaping the future of the team.
Newsome is set to make $13.3 million in 2025 on his fully guaranteed fifth-year option, a contract that’s going to be tough to trade if the Browns want to move on. Mitchell and Harden are signed for multiple seasons on their standard rookie deals, and Ward is signed through 2027 after Cleveland redid his contract earlier this year. Ward’s current 2025 salary-cap number of $24.6 million is second highest on the team behind Deshaun Watson’s $72.9 million.
Cameron Mitchell should see his snap count increase significantly with Greg Newsome II out for the season. (Scott Galvin / Imagn Images)
Wide receiver
Elijah Moore is eligible for free agency in 2025. Jerry Jeudy’s extension from March now looks like one of the Browns’ few good moves of the 2024 season, and Cedric Tillman is hoping to return this week to continue his development.
As is the case at a lot of other spots, the future at wide receiver is murky. But the Browns have gotten production from Moore, Jeudy and Tillman since trading Amari Cooper and switching to Winston at quarterback. Jeudy has been on a tear. Despite last week’s loss marking the first Winston start in which Jeudy didn’t get to at least 70 yards, the receiver leads the NFL in yards per reception (20.2 yards) over the last five weeks and is second in expected points added (EPA) per reception (1.6) and third in EPA per target (0.99) during that span, per TruMedia.
Tillman has missed the last two games while in concussion protocol, but he got 28 targets over Winston’s first three starts and caught the winning touchdown when the Browns upset the Baltimore Ravens in late October. Cleveland hopes Tillman can return this week.
Michael Woods II has played in the last two games and had three catches in Denver. Woods previously hadn’t played in a game since 2022, and he signed from the practice squad to the active roster last week. Expect more chances for both Woods and rookie Jamari Thrash over the season’s final month.
The Browns are going through the practice week uncertain about the availability of tight end David Njoku (hamstring), who has three touchdown catches over the last two games. Njoku leads the Browns with five touchdown receptions and is second on the team with 87 targets, so if he can’t play in any of the remaining games, that would create opportunities for the team’s other pass catchers. Specifically in the red zone, perhaps Tillman could take advantage.
Expect the Browns to add at least one young tight end in the offseason with Jordan Akins eligible for free agency and Njoku only signed through 2025. The future of the entire pass game is uncertain, but Moore is averaging better than 57 yards per game with Winston as the starter and has shown that he’s at least capable as a slot receiver and occasional downfield target.
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Defensive line
Myles Garrett is the headliner, this week and always. Garrett enters Week 15 tied for second in the NFL with 11 sacks and has 99 1/2 for his career.
Even if the Browns end up shifting into a rebuild, they hope to keep Garrett, who turns 29 later this month and is under contract through 2026. Though it feels more likely that Garrett would get a raise and extension from Cleveland than be dangled in what would be a mega-trade, Watson’s bloated contract and the team’s multiple failures in 2024 leave the future uncertain for both the top of the roster and the people atop the organizational structure. We don’t know who’s going to be making the key decisions or how the folks in charge will prioritize them from January to April.
This month, the Browns hope to further evaluate their young defensive linemen. Mike Hall Jr., a 2024 second-round pick, is back to practice this week and could play Sunday after missing four games due to a knee injury. Jowon Briggs, a 2024 seventh-round pick, made his NFL debut earlier this month in part because Hall was out, and 2023 fourth-round pick Isaiah McGuire has played more snaps over the last three games than he did his entire rookie season. McGuire has been a full-time player since the Browns traded Za’Darius Smith in November and has 20 quarterback pressures this season, per PFF.
Maybe McGuire can join Garrett in pressuring Mahomes this weekend. The Chiefs are dealing with multiple offensive line injuries, and Kansas City right tackle Jawaan Taylor has allowed a league-high six sacks in the past five weeks, per PFF.
The Browns will face an offseason decision on 30-year-old defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson, who’s under contract through 2026 but due to count more than $11 million on the salary cap in each of the next two years. Tomlinson’s guarantees expire after this season, and the Browns could choose to cut, trade or restructure Tomlinson depending on their roster and potentially large dead-cap situation.
The Browns always viewed Hall, 21, as kind of a developmental redshirt player this season, so assuming he can return to full health, he’ll have a chance to log some valuable reps the rest of the way.
(Top photo of Nick Chubb: Jeff Lange / USA Today via Imagn Images)
