NFL free agency: Browns list of 26 pending free agents

Za’Darius Smith, Joe Flacco and Kareem Hunt among those headed to free agency

The ink is drying on the Cleveland Browns 2023 NFL season after their blowout loss to the Houston Texans in the Wild Card round of the NFL playoffs. For many, now is the time for broad generalized statements about the team and their future.

That makes sense for all the passion surrounding the Browns.

While we look to the future with an early 2024 Browns Mock Draft, we also have looked back at DC Jim Schwartz’s failure to adjust and QB Joe Flacco’s continued fatal flaw.

NFL free agency is also around the corner for Cleveland with a large number of players, a few key contributors, set to hit the open market. According to Over the Cap, the Browns have 26 pending free agents. It is important to note that the team has exclusive negotiating rights with those players for extensions until the league year starts in March.

For now, here is the list of free agents in order of who took the most percent of Cleveland’s snaps this year (per OTC). All are unrestricted unless noted:

• DE Za’Darius Smith
• LB Sione Takitaki
• OL Geron Christian
• LB Anthony Walker Jr.
• DT Jordan Elliott
• DT Shelby Harris
• TE Harrison Bryant
• P Corey Bojorquez
• DT Maurice Hurst
• QB Joe Flacco
• RB Kareem Hunt
• S Rodney McLeod
• OL Nick Harris
• S Duron Harmon
• OL Michael Dunn
• QB PJ Walker
• CB Mike Ford
• WR Marquise Goodwin
• LB Matthew Adams
• DL Sam Kamara (Exclusive Rights Free Agent)
• LB Jordan Kunaszyk
• WR James Proche
• QB Jeff Driskel
• OL Ty Nsekhe
• LB Jacob Phillips
• WR Jakeem Grant

A fascinating list with a lot of players brought in on one-year contracts or with one year left on their deal when traded for. Only a couple seem irreplaceable but the veteran leadership in this group is huge.

If you could bring back only one of these pending free agents, which would it be? What player that played a decent amount of snaps this year do you not want to return next year?