Browns as sing a new player that is talented more an Joe Flacco…..

Cleveland Browns start putting together their 2024 roster. They announced the signing of nine players to reserves/futures contracts.

BEREA, Ohio — After the conclusion of an NFL teams season, one of the first steps is to sign player to reserve/futures contracts and for the Cleveland Browns and general manager Andrew Berry, it is no different.

On Monday, the Browns announced that they had signed nine players to reserve/futures contracts.

Those nine players

All nine players were with the Browns practice squad at the end of the season. Most of them were with the Browns the entirety of the season.

Jaelon Darden as added to the Browns at the end of the 2022 season after he was waived by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The former North Texas speedster spent the entire season on the Browns practice squad.

Vincent Gray played in the regular season finale for the Browns. He showed some physicality and competitiveness as part of a defense that was overwhelmed by the Cincinnati Bengals starters.

Charlie Thomas III, an undrafted rookie out of Georgia Tech, was called up for a couple games to help on special teams when fellow linebacker Jordan Kunaszyk was injured.

Isaiah Thomas was a seventh-round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. After playing as a rookie, recording a sack against the Bengals, he was signed to the practice squad after the Browns overhauled their defensive line.

Lonnie Phelps was a rookie free agent who started his career at the Miami University in Oxford, OH before finishing out at the University of Kansas. A speed rusher by trade, Phelps has can also contribute on special teams.

Zaire Mitchell-Paden has spent each of the past two seasons on the Browns practice squad after playing collegiately at Florida Atlantic University.

John Kelly Jr. was activated for the wildcard game against the Houston Texans due to a back injury Pierre Strong Jr. suffered the previous week. Kelly just completed his third season with the Browns and has appeared in five games.

Justin Murray played collegiately at the University of Cincinnati. The 6’5″ 315lb tackle logged four games for the Titans this past season, including against the Browns.

Chris Williams is the most recent addition to the team’s practice squad, added December 19th. Williams played collegiately at Wagner College.

The NFL allows teams to start forming their 90-man roster for the offseason programs and training camp now, even though the new NFL league year does not begin until March 2024. The reserve/futures contracts allows the team to sign players for the 2024 league year, but the players do not begin counting against a team’s roster limit until the new NFL league year begins in March 2024.