Cleveland, OH
Former Browns Player Sends Message To Cleveland After Departure
Following the 2025 NFL season, the Cleveland Browns knew they needed to overhaul the roster in order to be more competitive come the 2026 NFL campaign. The Browns still have Myles Garrett to lead them defensively, but outside of him there is a lot of work to be done.
The 2025 NFL Draft class, featuring young talents like Carson Schwesinger, Harold Fannin Jr. and Quinshon Judkins, was a good place to start, but Cleveland needs to nail its next draft class. The Browns own nine total draft picks, with four of them in the top 100.
There should be an ample amount of Day 1 starters available to Cleveland, and general manager Andrew Berry has proven he is not afraid to take swings on talented prospects regardless of position. As things stand today, the Browns have major needs at wide receiver and tackle, but on defense, they could use more depth along the defensive line and secondary.
As far as free agency goes, Cleveland did well to add some promising pieces to help but also lost some players in the process. For example, linebacker Mohamoud Diabate signed a deal with the Tennessee Titans after the Browns decided not to tender him with a restricted free agent tag.
Following his decision to sign with Tennessee, Diabate posted a heartfelt farewell to Cleveland and the fans.
“Cleveland, thank you for everything. Much love to the fans, my teammates, and the coaches for the last 3 years. Grateful always Excited for what’s next,” Diabate posted.
Cleveland, thank you for everything.
Much love to the fans, my teammates, and the coaches for the last 3 years.
Grateful always 🙏🏾
Excited for what’s next.— Mohamoud Diabate (@MDiabate11) March 22, 2026
Diabate was originally an undrafted free agent in 2023 but found a home with the Browns as he became a regular on defense and special teams. This past year, Diabate played a key part in the team’s stout defense, particularly in the run game.
While losing a player like Diabate isn’t the end of the world for Cleveland, it does open up another hole on the roster that needs to be addressed.
There are still values to be had in free agency, but it won’t be surprising to see the Browns take another swing in the undrafted free agency pool following the draft.
NEXT:
Former Browns Player Takes Big Jab At Kevin Stefanski
Cleveland, OH
Cleveland Browns News and Rumors June 22, 2026: Not Just Org Chart Noise
CLEVELAND, Ohio (TheOBR.com) Good morning, Cleveland Browns fans!
There are mornings when I sit down at this keyboard, look at the Browns quarterback discourse, and wonder whether I should have gone into a more stable line of work. Such as selling timeshares from inside an office that has been lit on fire. Because here we are in late June, with no pads, no preseason games, no live pass rush, and apparently everyone from television personalities to team-adjacent announcers to webdorks like me has solved the Browns quarterback battle. That’s 90% of the news items out there this morning.
But I don’t care, and look on that endless speculative churning as simply being noise at this point.
One story that matters this morning is Andrew Healy leaving Cleveland for Minnesota, which I wrote about several days ago. He’s joining the Vikings as an assistant general manager.
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If your first reaction was, “Okay, front-office guy changes jobs, wake me when someone throws a slant,” I get it. Executives mostly become famous when something goes wrong, which is a cruel system, but, hey, I didn’t design the planet. I just live here.
But Healy’s departure is a real loss. Alec Lewis’ Athletic reporting had two quotes that should get your attention. Browns offensive analyst Dom Borsani called Healy “a little bit like a unicorn,” because he combined research background and technical aptitude with a traditional scouting lens and an understanding of coaching schemes. Former Browns senior software developer Zach Zelinsky, now with the Arizona Diamondbacks, called him “probably the smartest guy I’ve worked with in sports.”
That’s not normal praise. That’s not “great teammate, first guy in, last guy out” boilerplate. This is people inside the machine saying the Browns just lost one of the people who helped connect the spreadsheet world to the football world. And that matters because the modern NFL is not analytics versus scouting anymore — or at least it shouldn’t be. The good organizations are the ones where the numbers people understand what the scouts are seeing, the scouts trust that the numbers can challenge their assumptions, and the coaches don’t throw the laptop into Lake Erie.
Healy’s Sloan Sports Analytics bio says that, for the last five years, he “led the integration of data and advanced insights into all parts of football operations.” It also says he started with the Browns in 2016 as Senior Player Personnel Strategist, helping to develop methods for valuing players, making game decisions, and evaluating draft assets. Before that, he created projection systems for Football Outsiders, and before that, he was an economics professor with a Ph.D. from MIT. So, yes, he is smarter than your humble webdork. This is not a high bar, but still.
So, naturally, I was worried about this and did what I always do when I’m looking for common-sense answers: I talked to Lane. He let me know what he “was told all the systems have been in place, with others handling the process. It doesn’t feel like they are overly concerned with his departure. As they have told me previously, you never like to lose assets, but you plan accordingly.”
The Browns still have Andrew Berry. They still have people in the research department. This is not a one-man shop collapsing because the smartest guy took his stapler to Minneapolis. But when you lose Paul DePodesta to the Rockies and Healy to the Vikings in the same general era, you lose institutional memory, decision-making frameworks, and the people who knew why certain models were built the way they were. Don’t expect the loss of the two to indicate much about how the Browns use analytics – it hasn’t fallen out of favor or suddenly joined Maurice Carthon’s playbook in the annals of football history.
This is the type of stuff fans don’t see until two years later, when the draft board feels different, the fourth-down decisions get twitchy, or the team suddenly stops finding value in places it used to find value. Maybe Berry replaces that brainpower cleanly. Maybe the remaining group steps forward. Maybe the Browns are fine. But losing a “unicorn” from a front office is like losing a left guard: nobody talks about it until the pressure starts coming up the middle.
Have a good one! GO BROWNS!
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FROM THE FORUMS
INSIDER DISCUSSION (VIP)
- Cleveland Browns News and Rumors June 21, 2026: Fighting for Football Lives
THE WATERCOOLER
THE LIFT
Positive news from the world of sports and beyond…
Space.com reports that scientists are drawing up a research blueprint to examine whether warming Mars is actually feasible — not because anyone should be selling lakefront property in Olympus Mons by Thursday, but because the work could help humanity understand what sustainable habitats beyond Earth would require. University of Chicago geophysical scientist Edwin Kite told Space.com, “We do not yet know enough to create a biosphere from scratch,” which is both humbling and oddly comforting. We can’t even get everyone to agree on the Browns quarterback depth chart, but sure, let’s keep the option open for Mars.
WRAPPING UP
When not trying to identify the precise moment quarterback analysis becomes interpretive dance, Barry McBride is the Publisher and Founder of the OBR and bloviates this nonsense every morning. You can follow him on Twitter @barrymcbride or write him at barry@theobr.com if you are so compelled.
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Copyright 2026 WOIO via TheOBR.com. All rights reserved.
Cleveland, OH
3 dead in Lakewood double murder-suicide
Three people are dead after a double murder-suicide in Lakewood.
Police said a man called his ex-wife early Sunday morning, saying he shot two people at a home on Chesterland Avenue.
According to investigators, the man threatened to shoot himself.
When officers arrived at the scene, they saw a man in a truck speeding away.
Police chased the truck until it stopped on Warren Road.
The 45-year-old man exited the vehicle with a gun to his head and shot himself moments later, police said.
Police found 35-year-old Richard Eastin and 33-year-old Amanda Wakut dead inside the kitchen of the home on Chesterland Avenue.
The investigation is ongoing.
Cleveland, OH
Cleveland police investigate fatal shooting; man detained
CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) – Officers from the Cleveland Division of Police Fourth District responded to the sound of gunshot Saturday evening.
According to police, officers were in the area of the 3200 block of E 93rd Street when they heard gunshots around 8:30 p.m.
Officers responded to the area and located an adult man with gunshot wounds.
They immediately began to provide first aid until EMS arrived.
When EMS arrived on scene crews continued care and transported the man to the hospital.
Police said during the course of the investigation, officers identified and detained a 33-year-old man.
Officers also located two firearms and several casings from the scene.
The victim was treated at the hospital, but was later pronounced dead by hospital staff.
The Cleveland Police Homicide Unit is investigating the incident, and no further information is available at this time, police said.
Copyright 2026 WOIO. All rights reserved.
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