The Browns find themselves in a delicate spot as the bell is about to ring signaling the start of the 2026 league year. On one hand, General Manager Andrew Berry views the current roster as one that needs more than a tweak or two or three to contend for the AFC championship. On the other hand, Berry knows he got a reprieve when team owner Jimmy Haslam chose to keep him and make Kevin Stefanski pay for the Browns finishing 3-14 and 5-12 in back-to-back seasons. Stefanski was fired Jan. 5. He and Berry were hired two weeks apart in January 2020. “There’s at least a chance we’ll be more aggressive (in free agency) than last year,” Berry told reporters at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis last month. “But it will be targeted and opportunistic. Realistically, we may be one more offseason away from being hyperaggressive in that window. But if there is something that fits us, fits our roster, fits our timeline, then it’s certainly a swing we’ll take.” The Browns have around $18.5 million of salary cap room available. Teams can officially begin negotiating with free agents from other teams at noon March 9. They can start signing them at 4 p.m. March 11. Many times, new contracts are announced by 5 p.m. on the first day of the league year. The Browns are prioritizing offensive linemen and wide receivers in free agency and in the draft next month. But the first few days of free agency might reveal what the brain trust truly thinks about the quarterback situation. Neither head coach Todd Monken nor Berry has committed to Shedeur Sanders or Deshaun Watson as the Browns’ starting quarterback for 2026. Three young veterans to keep an eye on as possible challengers to Sanders, Watson and Dillon Gabriel are Kyler Murray, Malik Willis and Anthony Richardson. In all, Spotrac lists 26 unrestricted free agent quarterbacks. Most, such as Jeff Driskel, Josh Johnson, Tyrod Taylor and Brandon Allen, aren’t worth a second thought. Willis is the hot commodity. He is likely to command somewhere in the neighborhood of $25 million a year, even though the 26-year-old quarterback from the Packers has only six career starts over four seasons. He has only six career touchdown passes, but he is athletic and has a strong arm. The Cardinals have given up on Murray. Murray, the first pick in the 2019 draft, had the misfortune to play for a team that struggles annually. The 5-foot-10, 207-pound quarterback from the University of Oklahoma missed the final 12 games of 2025 with a sprained foot. He is 38-48 as a starter. If the Browns did pursue Murray or Willis, they would signal they have no confidence in Sanders. A team would have to trade for Richardson because the 2023 first-round pick is still under contract to the Colts, but only for 2026, so he probably would not cost more than a third- or fourth-round pick. Richardson suffered an eye injury that limited him to five games in 2025. He has also had shoulder problems. He is 8-7 in 15 career starts with 11 touchdown passes and 13 interceptions. Teams are looking for the next Sam Darnold. Darnold failed with the Jets and Panthers, but resurrected his career with the Vikings and was the winning quarterback when the Seahawks beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl last month. Despite three years in the NFL, Richardson, 6-foot-4, 244 pounds, won’t turn 24 until May 22. Youth is important to Berry. “We already have a very young defense,” Berry said Feb. 3 after Monken was introduced as head coach. “With pretty heavy investment on offense, in most worlds, we’re probably going to be one of the younger teams in the league.” Youth is a built-in excuse for losing. But Haslam is in the business of appeasing his paying customers — customers who might not be patient sitting through another 5-12 season. • Left tackle Cam Robinson, left guard Joel Bitonio, center Ethan Pocic, right guard Wyatt Teller and right tackle Jack Conklin are all heading for free agency. But even if they were not about to hit the market, with the exception of Bitonio, the offensive line did a poor job protecting the Browns’ quarterbacks and opening holes for the running backs. Bitonio, 34, is pondering whether to return for a 13th season. He is expected to inform the Browns of his plans by March 9. Berry last week agreed to trade a fifth-round draft pick to the Texans for Tytus Howard. The trade will become official March 11. Howard, 29, started 16 games each of the last two seasons. He can play right tackle or right guard. Teven Jenkins, who at the end of 2025 replaced Teller as the starting right guard, is a free agent. Jenkins is 29 and has a market value of $2.3 million annually, according to Spotrac.com. The Browns might choose to re-sign Jenkins, and then the right side of the line would be set. Left guard would be set if Bitonio decides to return. Interior offensive linemen Berry might target, with their position, age, current team and spotrac’s estimated annual average market value in parenthesis, include Cade Mays (center, 26, Panthers, $12.3 million); Zion Johnson (guard, 26, Chargers, $11.2 million) and Ed Ingram (guard, 27, Texans, $13 million). Pause here to note Ingram and Howard started on the right side of the Houston offensive line last season. The Texans traded Howard for a fifth-round pick and are letting Ingram walk. The Browns are expected to find their left tackle in the draft. Dawand Jones is entering his fourth season. He played right tackle as a rookie in 2023 and left tackle the last two years. He ended each season on injured reserve with a knee injury. Jones could end up playing guard if Bitonio retires and/or the Browns don’t re-sign Jenkins. • Berry saying they are “one more offseason away from being hyperaggressive” in free agency might preclude the Browns from spending big on a wide receiver, but Berry also said he will be “targeted and opportunistic.” Rather than spend $5 million or so per year on a player like 28-year-old Marquise Brown, who caught 49 passes for 587 yards and five touchdowns last year with the Chiefs, Berry might decide to take one big swing and go after 25-year-old Wan’Dale Robinson of the Giants. Robinson, 25, caught 93 passes in 2024 and 92 last season. He would command about $15 million a year. Wan'Dale Robinson leaves the field after the Giants defeated the Raiders on Dec. 28 in Las Vegas. (Jeff Lewis - The Associated Press) The Browns must still figure out whether Jerry Jeudy is a true No. 1 receiver. He certainly didn’t play like one in 2025. Jeudy’s best stretch of games in two years with Cleveland were when Jameis Winston was the starting quarterback for seven games in  2024. Jeudy had more than 70 yards receiving in six of the seven games and was 100-plus in three of them. He caught nine passes for 235 yards and a touchdown in a 41-32 loss to the Broncos in Denver. Jeudy had only two 70-plus-yard receiving days last year. The Browns have nine picks in the NFL draft next month. Three picks — 4, 24 and 39 — are in the top 40. It would be no surprise if Berry trades the fourth pick to accumulate more picks without moving out of the top 10. • Here, in alphabetical order, is the list of players on the Browns’ 2025 roster set to become free agents: Linebacker Jerome Baker, Bitonio, punter Corey Bojorquez, linebacker Devin Bush, wide receiver/return specialist DeAndre Carter, Conklin, cornerback Martin Emerson Jr., running back Jerome Ford. defensive tackle Shelby Harris, offensive lineman Teven Jenkins, safety Rashawn Jenkins, tight end David Njoku, Pocic, Robinson, cornerback D’Angelo Ross, Teller, defensive end Cameron Thomas and running back Traveon Williams. 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