During this Cleveland Browns roster building and contract preseason preview I will be covering everything from a General Manager perspective to get you ready for what the Cleveland Browns roster and practice squad will likely be week one.
Today we are looking at potential free agency and trade targets at linebacker to strengthen the position room. I'm going to stay by laying out where I currently see the room come week one of the season.
Predicted Week One Roster
Free Agent
Carson Schwesinger
Mohamoud Diabate
Jerome Baker
Winston Reid
Nathaniel Watson
Practice Squad - Easton Mascarenas-Arnold
Suspended - Devin Bush
IR - Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah
We know Owusu-Koramoah is set to miss the 2025 season, hopefully he can recover over the year and return to the field next season. He has guarantees for the 2026 season so it could be one where he doesn't play again and we get a finalised decision on his roster status before the 2027 season.
The Hicks news certainly makes some of the moves this offseason more clear. Bringing back JOK, Hicks, Diabate and Bush always seemed like overkill and you would only have three of them. When they added Carson Schwesinger it really confused me. I was asking, was it a sign they didn't like how Diabate played last season, instead they were covering their bases.
For me Jason Tarver is one of the most underrated coaches in the entire league. He gets above average returns from a financially limited position room year in, year out. When they tried the same thing at defensive tackle it was a disaster. As long as Tarver is on the staff, no Browns fan should worry about the LB room.
Unless they add someone Schwesinger is effectively guaranteed the starting role with Diabate most likely as his running mate. I won't view Schwesinger as any sort of failure if he fails to make the starting lineup week one due to another linebacker addition. People put far too much focus on what day 1/2 draft picks do week one rather than the eight year investment the draft pick should be.
When Bush returns from a potential suspension he would need to battle his way back up the depth chart. How Diabate plays in that time will be very telling to how what happens in the position room. Last season the rotation went JOK starting alongside Hicks with Bush as number three but from week six onwards Diabate overtook Bush on the depth chart. I wonder if they thought he was the better player or they knew the season wasn't heading in a positive direction and thought it was time to find out what he could do.
They have signed Jerome Baker but since this was on a veteran salary benefit contract, it feels he is more likely to be linebacker three or four rather than one of the two starter, but you never know. If he has a very strong preseason anything is possible.
Then you have Reid and Watson on cheap contracts filling out the bottom of the position room. They are both fantastic special teams contributors so it is a really nice tandem for this role. They have a long way to go in terms of defensive play but since they are young there is always a chance to learn. There is a chance one of them ends up on the practice squad once Bush returns.
Since Easton Mascarenas-Arnold had a nice first preseason game I expect them to keep him on the practice squad, they gave him $110,000 of guarantees in his UDFA contract so they think something is there. What happens if they add a free agent and then once Bush returns will be interesting.