2021 Cleveland Browns season

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2021 Cleveland Browns season
FirstEnergy Stadium
Results
Record8–9
Division place3rd AFC North
Playoff finishDid not qualify
Pro BowlersG Joel Bitonio
RB Nick Chubb
DE Myles Garrett
G Wyatt Teller
CB Denzel Ward
AP All-ProsG Joel Bitonio (1st team)
DE Myles Garrett (1st team)
G Wyatt Teller (2nd team)
Uniform

The 2021 season was the Cleveland Browns' 69th season as a member of the National Football League (NFL), their 73rd overall and their second under head coach Kevin Stefanski and general manager Andrew Berry. The Browns finished 8–9, failing to improve upon their 11–5 record from 2020. Despite starting 3–1, they would go 5–8 in their last games, eliminating them from playoff contention in the process. For the 75th anniversary of the team's founding in 1946, the Browns introduced a commemorative logo in January to use for the season.[1]

Offseason

Re-signings

Position Player Tag Date
TE Stephen Carlson ERFA March 5
DE Porter Gustin ERFA March 5
WR Rashard Higgins UFA March 17
WR KhaDarel Hodge RFA March 15
OLB Elijah Lee UFA March 19
WR JoJo Natson UFA March 18
K Cody Parkey UFA March 18
LB Malcolm Smith UFA March 18

Players added

Position Player Tag 2020 Team Date
DE Jadeveon Clowney UFA Tennessee Titans April 14
CB Troy Hill UFA Los Angeles Rams March 18
DT Malik Jackson UFA Philadelphia Eagles March 19
S John Johnson UFA Los Angeles Rams March 17
DT Malik McDowell UFA May 3
DE Takkarist McKinley UFA Las Vegas Raiders March 17
K Chase McLaughlin waivers New York Jets May 11
OT Greg Senat UFA Dallas Cowboys March 18
DT Damion Square UFA Los Angeles Chargers May 4
LB Anthony Walker Jr. UFA Indianapolis Colts March 19

Players lost

Position Player Tag 2021 Team Date
DE Adrian Clayborn Release March 9
LB Tae Davis Release Houston Texans March 15
C Anthony Fabiano Retired[2] June 6
LB B. J. Goodson UFA
WR Marvin Hall UFA New England Patriots[3] June 4
CB Kevin Johnson UFA Tennessee Titans March 18
SS Karl Joseph UFA Las Vegas Raiders April 9
OT Kendall Lamm UFA Tennessee Titans March 17
CB Terrance Mitchell UFA Houston Texans March 17
DE George Obinna ERFA
DT Larry Ogunjobi UFA Cincinnati Bengals March 17
G Malcolm Pridgeon Release February 9
DT Sheldon Richardson Release Minnesota Vikings[4] April 16
S Andrew Sendejo UFA
WR Taywan Taylor UFA Houston Texans[5] May 20
DT Vincent Taylor UFA Houston Texans March 17
CB Tavierre Thomas Release Houston Texans March 5
DE Olivier Vernon UFA

Draft

2021 Cleveland Browns Draft
Round Selection Player Position College Notes
1 26 Greg Newsome II CB Northwestern
2 52 Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah LB Notre Dame from Chicago via Carolina
3 91 Anthony Schwartz WR Auburn from New Orleans
4 110 James Hudson OT Cincinnati from Philadelphia
132 Tommy Togiai DT Ohio State
5 153 Tony Fields II LB West Virginia from Detroit
169 Richard LeCounte S Georgia from Los Angeles Rams
6 211 Demetric Felton RB UCLA

Pre-draft trades

Undrafted free agents

Player Position College Signed Cut
Tre Harbison RB Charlotte May 3
Romeo McKnight DE Charlotte May 3
Emmanuel Rugamba CB Miami (OH) May 3
Kiondre Thomas CB Kansas State May 3
Marvin Wilson DT Florida State May 3

Staff

2021 Cleveland Browns staff

Front office

  • Owners – Jimmy Haslam, Dee Haslam, Whitney Haslam-Johnson, J.W. Johnson (EVP)
  • Chief strategy officer – Paul DePodesta
  • Chief Operating Officer
    – David Jenkins
  • EVP of football operations/General manager – Andrew Berry
  • Vice president of football administration – Chris Cooper
  • Vice president of football operations – Kwesi Adofo-Mensah
  • Vice president of player personnel – Glenn Cook
  • Vice president of research and strategy – Andrew Healy
  • Vice president of player personnel process and development – Ken Kovash
  • Director of football administration - Taylor Young
  • Director of player personnel – Dan Saganey
  • Assistant director of pro personnel – Adam Al-Khayyal
  • Director of research and strategy – Dave Giuliani
  • Director of scouting research – Mike Cetta
  • Director of football information systems - Brad DeAngelis
  • Senior football advisor – Ryan Grigson
  • Special advisor – Jim Brown

Head coaches

Offensive coaches

Defensive coaches
  • Defensive coordinator – Joe Woods
  • Defensive line – Chris Kiffin
  • Assistant defensive line – Jeremy Garrett
  • Linebackers – Jason Tarver
  • Defensive pass game coordinator/defensive backs – Jeff Howard
  • Assistant defensive backs – Brandon Lynch
  • Defensive run game coordinator – Ben Bloom
  • Defensive quality control – Stephen Bravo-Brown
  • Defensive Assistant - Zach Dunn

Special teams coaches

  • Assistant special teams – Doug Colman
  • Coaching assistant – Ryan Cordell

Strength and conditioning

  • Director of high performance – Shaun Huls
  • Director of strength and conditioning – Larry Jackson
  • Director of performance nutrition – Katy Meassick
  • Strength and conditioning assistant/sports science – Josh Christovich
  • Strength and conditioning assistant – Monty Gibson
  • Strength and conditioning assistant – Dale Jones
  • Strength and conditioning assistant – Evan Marcus

Final roster

2021 Cleveland Browns final roster
Quarterbacks

Running backs

Wide receivers

Tight ends

Offensive linemen

Defensive linemen

Linebackers

Defensive backs

Special teams

Reserve lists


Practice squad


Rookies in italics
54 active, 14 inactive, 9 practice squad (+5 exempt)

Preseason

Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Recap
1 August 14 at Jacksonville Jaguars W 23–13 1–0
TIAA Bank Field
Recap
2 August 22 New York Giants W 17–13 2–0
FirstEnergy Stadium
Recap
3 August 29 at Atlanta Falcons W 19–10 3–0
Mercedes Benz Stadium
Recap

Regular season

Schedule

The Browns' 2021 schedule was announced on May 12.

Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Recap
1 September 12 at Kansas City Chiefs L 29–33 0–1 Arrowhead Stadium Recap
2 September 19 Houston Texans W 31–21 1–1
FirstEnergy Stadium
Recap
3 September 26 Chicago Bears W 26–6 2–1
FirstEnergy Stadium
Recap
4 October 3 at Minnesota Vikings W 14–7 3–1 U.S. Bank Stadium Recap
5 October 10 at Los Angeles Chargers L 42–47 3–2 SoFi Stadium Recap
6 October 17 Arizona Cardinals L 14–37 3–3
FirstEnergy Stadium
Recap
7 October 21 Denver Broncos W 17–14 4–3
FirstEnergy Stadium
Recap
8 October 31 Pittsburgh Steelers L 10–15 4–4
FirstEnergy Stadium
Recap
9 November 7 at Cincinnati Bengals W 41–16 5–4
Paul Brown Stadium
Recap
10 November 14 at New England Patriots L 7–45 5–5 Gillette Stadium Recap
11 November 21 Detroit Lions W 13–10 6–5
FirstEnergy Stadium
Recap
12 November 28 at Baltimore Ravens L 10–16 6–6 M&T Bank Stadium Recap
13 Bye
14 December 12 Baltimore Ravens W 24–22 7–6
FirstEnergy Stadium
Recap
15 December 20 Las Vegas Raiders L 14–16 7–7
FirstEnergy Stadium
Recap
16 December 25 at Green Bay Packers L 22–24 7–8 Lambeau Field Recap
17 January 3 at Pittsburgh Steelers L 14–26 7–9
Heinz Field
Recap
18 January 9 Cincinnati Bengals W 21–16 8–9
FirstEnergy Stadium
Recap

Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Game summaries

Week 1: at Kansas City Chiefs

Week 1: Cleveland Browns at Kansas City Chiefs – Game summary
Period 1 2 34Total
Browns 8 14 0729
Chiefs 3 7 101333

at Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri

Game information

With the loss, the Browns started their season at 0–1. The Browns failed to win in Week 1 for the 17th straight season.

Week 2: vs. Houston Texans

Week 2: Houston Texans at Cleveland Browns – Game summary
Period 1 2 34Total
Texans 7 7 0721
Browns 7 7 10731

at

Cleveland, Ohio

  • Date: September 19
  • Game time: 1:00 p.m. EDT
  • Game weather: Sunny, 75 °F (24 °C)
  • Game attendance: 67,431
  • Referee:
    AJ Ross
  • Recap, Game Book
Game information

With the win, the Browns improved to 1–1.

Week 3: vs. Chicago Bears

Game information

With the win, the Browns improved to 2–1. The Browns' defense set franchise records for fewest yards allowed (47) and fewest net passing yards allowed (1).[12] DE Myles Garrett set a franchise record with 4.5 sacks[12] and was named AFC Defensive Player of the Week.[13]

Week 4: at Minnesota Vikings

Week 4: Cleveland Browns at Minnesota Vikings – Game summary
Period 1 2 34Total
Browns 0 11 0314
Vikings 7 0 007

at

Minneapolis, Minnesota

  • Date: October 3
  • Game time: 1:00 p.m. EDT/12:00 p.m. CDT
  • Game weather: None (indoor stadium)
  • Game attendance: 66,703
  • Referee:
    Melanie Collins
  • Recap, Game Book
Game information

This was Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski's first return to Minneapolis since leaving the Vikings in January 2020 to become the Browns head coach. Stefanski served as an assistant coach for the Vikings from 2006 to 2019.

With the win, the Browns improved to 3–1. This marked the Browns' sixth consecutive win over NFC opponents.

Week 5: at Los Angeles Chargers

Week 5: Cleveland Browns at Los Angeles Chargers – Game summary
Period 1 2 34Total
Browns 3 17 71542
Chargers 7 6 82647

at SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, California

  • Date: October 10
  • Game time: 4:05 p.m. EDT/1:05 p.m. PDT
  • Game weather: None (indoor stadium)
  • Game attendance: 70,240
  • Referee: Brad Allen
  • TV announcers (CBS): Kevin Harlan, Trent Green and Melanie Collins
  • Recap, Game Book
Game information

With the loss, the Browns fell to 3–2. The Browns became the first team in NFL history to lose a game despite scoring 40+ points and having no turnovers. Such teams were previously 442–0.

Week 6: vs. Arizona Cardinals

Week 6: Arizona Cardinals at Cleveland Browns – Game summary
Period 1 2 34Total
Cardinals 7 16 7737
Browns 0 14 0014

at FirstEnergy Stadium, Cleveland, Ohio

  • Date: October 17
  • Game time: 4:05 p.m. EDT
  • Game weather: Cloudy, 58 °F (14 °C)
  • Game attendance: 67,431
  • Referee:
    Laura Okmin
  • Recap, Game Book
Game information