The 2025 preseason has been another difficult one for the Cleveland Browns, as injuries and off-field issues have hampered the already minimal expectations for a franchise just two years removed from a playoff berth and the NFL’s top-rated defense.
While the team could do nothing about recent Pro-Bowl linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah missing the entire campaign with a neck injury he sustained last season or the Achilles tear that knocked starting outside cornerback Martin Emerson Jr. out for the year, the events surrounding rookie Quinshon Judkins were avoidable.
The second-round running back out of Ohio State was potentially facing misdemeanor charges for domestic violence and battery stemming from events in Florida in mid-July. However, the courts chose in August not to pursue those charges, which took criminal punishment for Judkins out of the equation.
However, the Browns have chosen to hold off on inking the RB to a deal until they knew whether the league planned to hand down punishment of its own. Judkins still isn’t under contract with the season opener just one week away, but Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com predicted that may soon change.
“I believe Judkins will be back with the Browns soon, possibly even sometime this week as they prepare for the Bengals. If he makes it back early enough in the week, he could possibly contribute some in the opener,” Cabot wrote on Sunday, August 31. “The holdup must be with the guarantees in his contract more than anything, because the amounts are slotted. He’s due to make about $11.4 million over four years, with a signing bonus close to $5 million.”
Browns Can Field Solid Rush Attack by Pairing Quinshon Judkins, Jerome Ford
GettyCleveland Browns running back Jerome Ford.
Adding Judkins into the mix would be a boon for the Browns’ offense, which is liable to struggle regardless.
The unit should be considerably more productive if it can establish a quality run game, and pairing Judkins alongside fourth-year rusher Jerome Ford creates the best chance of that happening.
Joe Flacco, 40, is going to start Week 1 under center. He will have wide receiver Jerry Jeudy and a nearly 30-year-old tight end in David Njoku coming off of knee and ankle injuries in 2024 to whom to throw the football, and not much else.
Quinshon Judkins’ Return to Offense Will Benefit Browns’ Rookies Mason Graham, Carson Schwesinger on Defense
GettyCleveland Browns defensive tackle Mason Graham.
Cleveland has real question marks at both of the offensive tackle spots, and is likely going to ask the defense to carry the load for the entire team yet again, at which it succeeded in 2023 but did so far less effectively in 2024.
The aforementioned injuries to Owusu-Koramoah and Emerson will make it even more difficult for the defense to prove dominant, particularly in a division that matches the unit against quarterbacks Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow each twice per season.
The Browns focused much of their early draft capital on a youth movement in the middle of the defense, drafting tackle Mason Graham No. 5 overall and linebacker Carson Schwesinger at pick No. 33.
The team nabbed Judkins just three spots and need him to contribute as early and often as it Graham and Schwsinger. If everything pans out, Judkins can help keep a more youthful Browns’ defense off the field for longer stretches through clock management, more first downs and better field position.
Circumstances might still grow ugly for Cleveland relatively quickly given its brutal six-game schedule to open the season, but Judkins’ availability for Week 1 and beyond would be potentially the biggest reason for optimism that Browns fans could receive at this point.
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