The Opening Drive 6/22: Browns Must Solve Future With Key Defensive Pieces

If the Browns want a quick turnaround in the no-so-distant future, two big extensions loom.

BEREA, OHIO - JUNE 09: Denzel Ward #21 of the Cleveland Browns runs a drill during the Cleveland Browns Mandatory Minicamp at CrossCountry Mortgage Campus on June 09, 2026 in Berea, Ohio. (Photo by Nick Cammett/Getty Images)

The Browns have signaled they don’t want their current process to be seen as a “roster teardown.” They prioritized a continued presence on their defensive line getting back Jared Verse in the Myles Garrett deal, and they have been aggressive at solving their problems on offense — and not all through youth. It is clear they want to win games as soon as this year but certainly by the fall of 2027.

Denzel Ward and Grant Delpit are the two longest-tenured players left on this defense, and both are heading into contract situations that could end with them in different uniforms by that 2027 season. But both also want to be in Cleveland. The question is how does that shape up financially and how do the Browns make that happen inside their current window. It makes sense for both players, on the end of their current deals, to use their leverage and lock down more years or more guaranteed dollars, and the Browns have shown a willingness to get these deals done.

As it stands right now, neither situation is loud. There’s been no trade demand, no public ultimatum, no agent doing radio hits. That quiet is exactly why it’s worth saying plainly: the Browns need to get both of these deals done, and the case for each is different enough that it’s worth making separately.

Ward isn’t a cap problem to be solved. He’s a problem-solver for a secondary that badly needs his services.

Start with the math, because the math is the whole reason this is even a conversation. Ward has two years left on the five-year, $100.5 million extension he signed in 2022, but there’s no guaranteed money remaining on that deal, which is the only reason his name keeps showing up in trade speculation. Cleveland already addressed his number once this offseason, converting a roster bonus into a signing bonus and adding voidable years to create modest cap relief rather than the larger restructure some expected. That’s a front office buying flexibility, not necessarily signaling an exit — but flexibility cuts both ways, and a movable contract on a 29-year-old corner is the kind of asset rebuilding teams get tempted to cash in at the deadline.

Here’s the part that should make extending him the easier call, not the harder one: the Browns do not have a real replacement on the roster. And to carry this further for why it seems they are on the pathway to extending him rather than moving him: they have not actively sought any sort of developmental replacement. Behind Ward and Tyson Campbell, the depth consists of Myles Bryant, D’Angelo Ross, Tre Avery, Myles Harden, and Dom Jones — barely a starting option among them. Andrew Berry said it himself when asked about Ward’s standing after the Garrett trade: “He’s still playing at a really high level.” That’s not spin. A corner who can travel with a No. 1 receiver is one of the hardest pieces to replace on defense, and the Browns don’t currently have a clean answer if Ward is gone.

The quieter statistical year — 39 tackles, one interception, two tackles for loss, and nine pass breakups across 15 games in 2025 — will get read by some as decline but the film did not show a player who is declining in any way.

It’s also worth being honest about what a low target-and-production count usually means for a cover corner: quarterbacks stop throwing their way. That’s not proof he’s still elite, but it’s not proof he’s slipping, either, and it’s exactly the kind of ambiguous signal that should be settled on tape, not assumed from a box score.