CLEVELAND (AP) — Mike Vrabel will be working in the NFL after all this fall.
The former Tennessee Titans head coach, fired in January after consecutive losing seasons, landed as an analyst and personnel consultant for the Cleveland Browns on Friday.
The 48-year-old Vrabel, an Akron native and an Ohio State graduate, developed a solid relationship with Browns coach Kevin Stefanski and general manager Andrew Berry in recent years.
Vrabel even helped them scout players two weeks ago at the NFL combine in Indianapolis.
Vrabel also is tight with Browns defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz.
Schwartz served as a senior advisor for the Titans, before taking over the Browns defense last season.
A hard-nosed linebacker in his playing days with New England, Pittsburgh and Kansas City, Vrabel spent six seasons coaching the Titans.
He went 56-48 overall, including 2-3 in the playoffs, and reached the AFC championship game following the 2019 season.
Vrabel interviewed for at least three head-coaching jobs in the past two months — Atlanta, Carolina and the Los Angeles Chargers — but didn’t get any of those jobs.
He ended up close to his hometown.
Browns to sign Huntley
CLEVELAND (AP) — The Browns are taking the tough lessons they learned last season about quarterbacks to heart.
Cleveland agreed to terms on a one-year contract with former Baltimore Ravens QB Tyler Huntley on Sunday, adding another veteran to give them more depth and protection behind Deshaun Watson.
Huntley is signing at the veteran’s minimum salary with the Browns, who spent last season juggling quarterbacks when Watson hurt his shoulder — and eventually had surgery after making just six starts.
The Browns started P.J. Walker, rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson and Joe Flacco, who signed as a free agent in November and led Cleveland to a playoff berth.
Last week, the team signed 2015 No. 1 overall pick Jameis Winston to back up Watson, who has been rehabbing in California since undergoing surgery in November.
Winston, Thompson-Robinson and Huntley will now stack up behind Watson, who has made only 12 starts since signing a $230 million contract with Cleveland in 2022.
Huntley, 26, has been Lamar Jackson’s primary backup the past three seasons.
He went 3-7 in 10 starts for Baltimore.
He started for an injured Jackson and lost a playoff game in the 2022 season, when he fumbled near the goal line and Cincinnati’s Sam Hubbard returned it 98 yards for the game-winning touchdown.
Huntley has passed for 1,957 yards with eight TDs and seven interceptions in 20 regular-season games.
Browns adding Winston
to back up Watson
Deshaun Watson has a new backup in Cleveland.
The Browns agreed last Tuesday to a one-year deal with Jameis Winston that’s worth up to $8.7 million, a person with knowledge of the negotiations told The Associated Press.
The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity, because the move can’t become official until the new league year began on Wednesday.
Joe Flacco, who went 4-1 and helped the Browns reach the playoffs last season after Watson was sidelined by a shoulder injury, didn’t receive a contract offer from the Browns, said his agent Joe Linta.
Winston spent the last four seasons as a spot starter in New Orleans, going 6-4.
That followed five seasons in Tampa Bay, where the Buccaneers made him the No. 1 overall draft pick in 2015.
Overall, Winston is 34-46 as a starter.
Second-year QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson also is on the Browns’ roster.
Browns agree to resign
defensive linemen
CLEVELAND (AP) — The Cleveland Browns have agreed to re-sign defensive end Za’Darius Smith and defensive tackle Maurice Hurst, a person familiar with the contracts told The Associated Press last Monday.
The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity, because the free agents have yet to sign the deals to remain in Cleveland.
Both played significant roles on the Browns’ defense, which allowed the fewest yards in the NFL, and retaining them was a priority for general manager Andrew Berry.
Smith, 31, made 16 starts and had 5 1/2 sacks and 27 tackles after joining the team in a May trade with Minnesota.
The three-time Pro Bowl selection agreed to a two-year deal worth $23.5 million, keeping him on the opposite side of the line from AP Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett.
Hurst, 28, had 22 tackles and 1 1/2 sacks in 13 games before suffering a season-ending pectoral tear in December.
He joined the Browns as a free agent last spring, and agreed to a one-year contract worth $3.2 million to return.
The Browns also added a player from outside the organization, agreeing to a two-year deal with linebacker Jordan Hicks.
The nine-year veteran made 89 tackles in 13 games for Minnesota last season, and will help offset the losses of linebackers Anthony Walker Jr. (Dolphins) and Sione Takitaki (Patriots) in free agency.
Cleveland finished second in the AFC North with an 11-6 record, and lost to Houston in the wild-card round.
Bills’ Hines to
sign with Browns
Former Buffalo Bills running back Nyheim Hines has agreed to a one-year deal with the Cleveland Browns that’s worth up to $3.5 million, a person with knowledge of the negotiations told The Associated Press last Tuesday.
The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity, because the team didn’t announce the deal, which did not become official until Wednesday, the start of the new league year.
Hines, who also is kick return specialist, was released by the Bills earlier this month.
The seventh-year pro missed all of last season after a boating accident, in which he suffered a torn ACL when he was struck by a jet skier in North Carolina.
He joined the Bills in a midseason trade from Indianapolis in 2022, and although he wasn’t an impact player on offense, he returned two kickoffs for touchdowns against New England in the regular-season finale.
Hines was a fourth-round pick by the Colts in 2018.
