houston texans  Sign Nine Players to Futures and Reserve Agreements

BEREA, Ohio — After the conclusion of an NFL teams season, one of the first steps is to sign player to reserve/futures contracts and for the Cleveland Browns and general manager Andrew Berry, it is no different.

On Monday, the Browns announced that they had signed nine players to reserve/futures contracts.

Those nine playe

WR Jaelon Darden
CB Vincent Gray
RB John Kelly Jr.
TE Zaire Mitchell-Paden
T Justin Murray
DE Lonnie Phelps
LB Charlie Thomas III
DE Isaiah Thomas
DT Chris Williams

All nine players were with the Browns practice squad at the end of the season. Most of them were with the Browns the entirety of the season.

Jaelon Darden was added to the Browns at the end of the 2022 season after he was waived by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The former North Texas speedster spent the entire season on the Browns practice squad.

Vincent Gray played in the regular season finale for the Browns. He showed some physicality and competitiveness as

Charlie Thomas III, an undrafted rookie out of Georgia Tech, was called up for a couple games to help on special teams when fellow linebacker Jordan Kunaszyk was injured.

Isaiah Thomas was a seventh-round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. After playing as a rookie, recording a sack against the Bengals, he was signed to the practice squad after the Browns overhauled their defensive line.

Lonnie Phelps was a rookie free agent who started his career at the Miami University in Oxford, OH before finishing out at the University of Kansas. A speed rusher by trade, Phelps has can also contribute on special teams.

Zaire Mitchell-Paden has spent each of the past two seasons on the Browns practice squad after playing collegiately at Florida Atlantic University.

John Kelly Jr. was activated for the wildcard game against the Houston Texans due to a back injury Pierre Strong Jr. suffered the previous week. Kelly just completed his third season with the Browns and has appeared in five games.

Chris Williams is the most recent addition to the team’s practice squad, added December 19th. Williams played collegiately at Wagner College.

The NFL allows teams to start forming their 90-man roster for the offseason programs and training camp now, even though the new NFL league year does not begin until March 2024. The reserve/futures contracts allows the team to sign players for the 2024 league year, but the players do not begin counting against a team’s roster limit until the new NFL league year begins in March 2024.

How Deshaun Watson decision affects Matt Ryan, Jameis Winston and NFL QB free agency

The Atlanta Falcons and New Orleans Saints have reportedly move to the forefront of the Deshaun Watson sweepstakes, but trading for the Houston Texans quarterback complicates the salary cap situation a bit for both franchises, according to Adam Schefter. For the Falcons, they would need to move on from Matt Ryan, who remains under contract, while the Saints would no longer entertain the possibility of re-signing free agent quarterback Jameis Winston.

“Deshaun Watson will have a decision here that impacts the franchises for years to come,” Schefter said Friday during an appearance on SportsCenter. “Not only will he be playing for one of those teams in the NFC South, but he’ll be playing against the other team for presumably years to come. This decision will have ripple effects because also there are players that want to follow Deshaun Watson. He will help shift the balance of power in the NFC South with a simple decision.

“This is all going to happen as soon as Deshaun Watson agrees to waive his no-trade clause, which could could literally any minute now.”