The Magnificence Seven
The Seven Rookies the Browns Will Be Counting On This Season The Browns enter the 2026 season with the second youngest roster in the NFL and most of the national football writers (I’m looking at you Zak Jackson of the Athletic) are predicting they will win no more than 5 games this season. If the Browns are going to exceed those expectations, they will undoubtedly need 7 rookies to play significant roles in their success. Three of these rookies are scheduled to start on offense when the Browns visit the Jacksonville Jaguars in week one. Rookie receivers Denzel Boston and KC Concepcion are set to start at wide receiver and slot receiver. Boston (#12, 6’4” 215 lbs.) was the Browns second round pick after earning 3rd team All-Big Ten honors playing for Washington. At the draft combine he ran a competitive 4.28 second shuttle run with an impressive 35” vertical. During his only pre-season game he caught 1 of 1 passes for 15 yards. He’s joined by first round pick KC Concepcion out of Texas A&M. Concepcion (#1, 6’0” 190 lbs.) earned 1st team All American honors and the Paul Hornung Award as the nation’s most versatile player during his last year in college. During his only preseason game he caught 3 of 4 passes for 27 yards and had 1 rush for 14 yards and a touchdown. The other rookie starter on offense is LT Spencer Fano (#55, 6’6” 315 lbs.) In his last season at Utah he won the Outland Award as the nations best interior linemen while earning 1st team All American honors. At the NFL combine he ran an impressive 4.9 second 40 with a 32” vertical jump. During the preseason he played 33 snaps and gave up 1 QB hit. Back-up rookie center Parker Brailsford (#52, 6”2” 290 lbs.) a 5th round pick out of Alabama should also get significant playing time this season. At the Combine he benched pressed 225 lbs. 27 times and ran a 4.95 second 40. Back-up RG Austin Barber (#58, 6’7” 320 lbs.) a 3rd round pick from Florida has been pushing for the starting job all preseason where he played 84 snaps giving up only 1 sack. On defense 2 other rookies will undoubtedly get significant playing time. Back-up strong safety Emmanuel McNeil-Warren (#28, 6’3” 210 lbs.) a 2nd round pick out of Toledo is expected to play the role of third safety in new defensive coordinator Mike Rutenburg’s aggressive pass defense. McNeil-Warren earned 3rd team All American and 1st team All Mac honors in his last college season. Joining him will be back-up LB Justin Jefferson (#17, 6’0” 223 lbs.) who collected 6.5 tackles for loss, 3 sacks and 5 pass break-ups in his last season at Alabama. Lastly, one player who could play a significant role on offense depending on game situations is current 3rd string QB Taylen Green (#15, 6’6” 230 lbs.) out of Arkansas whose freakish athletic abilities, he ran an amazing 4.36 second 40 with a 43.5” vertical jump at the NFL Combine, could be used as a change of pace running threat during short yardage and low red zone downs.