Welcome back Browns Backers! It’s opening day and our beloved Cleveland Browns start the 2025 NFL season by welcoming the Cincinnati Bengals to Huntington Bank Stadium on Sunday. Game time is 12:00 noon CST. This season the ChicagoLand Browns Backers/Northside Dawg Pound will continue to meet up at Burke’s Public House 5401 N. Broadway to watch all the game day action. If the Browns are going to rebound from their dismal 3-14 season in 2024 they will need better play at QB and drastically reduce their turnovers. Last season they were last in yards per pass attempt, last in team QB rating and 31st in pass completion percentage. They were also last in interceptions per game and tied for last in turnovers per game. Sunday the Browns will be facing the Bengals with a healthy Joe Burrow who last season threw for 4,918 yards with 43 TD passes, both second most in the NFL. He’ll be throwing to WR JaMarr Chase who’s 127 receptions and 1,708 receiving yards led the NFL.
In their efforts to improve the team the Browns have added 24 new players including 12 rookies to the game day roster. So buckle up I’m going to run down the 24 newcomers
- Jerome Baker LB #17-Baker is a 7- year veteran with career totals of 24.5 sacks, 33 tackles for loss (TFL) 5 interceptions and 2 TD’s. Last season with Tennessee he started 3 games with 1 sack
- Jarrick Bernard-Converse CB #20- Bernard-Converse is a 2-year veteran who played in 7 games last season with the NY Jets. He has no career interceptions or passes defensed.
- Isaiah Bond WR #16- Bond is a rookie who played 3 combined seasons at Alabama and Texas. In his 41 college games he had 99 receptions for 1,428 yards and 10 TD’s.
- Deandre Carter WR/KR/PR #2. Carter is a 7-year vet who’s played in 107 games with 21 game starts. He has 117 career receptions for 1,331 yards with 6 TD’s. Last season he played for the Bears and averaged 9.7 yards per punt return and 23.5 yards per kick return.
- Maliek Collins DT #96- Collins has started 129 games in his 9 years in the NFL collecting 30.5 sacks, 51 TFL and 1 interception. Last season he started 17 games for San Francisco with 5 sacks and 5 TFL.
- Harold Fannin Jr. TE #44 – Fannin played 36 games for Bowling Green where he earned All American honors last season. In his 3 years of college ball, he had 180 receptions for 2,396 yards with 17 TD’s.
- Joe Flacco QB #15- Flacco is entering his 18th season with a career record of 105 wins against 86 losses and an 84.4 QB rating. He’s completed 61.7% of his career passes with 257 TD passes and 162 interceptions along with 404 sacks while averaging 6.45 yards per pass. After his magical 2023 season with the Browns he was named NFL Comeback Player of the Year.
- Dillon Gabriel QB #8 – Gabriel played a total of 64 college games over 6 seasons for the University of Central Florida, Oklahoma and Oregon during which he threw for 18,722 yards with an FBS college record 155 TD passes against only 32 interceptions.
- Mason Graham DT #94 – Graham was the Browns 1st round pick in the 2025 draft after playing 3 years at Michigan where he earned All American honors in 2024. In his 39 college games he had 9 sacks and 18 TFL. He is the Browns new starting DT.
- Adin Huntington DT #98 – Huntington is an undrafted rookie who played a combined 3 seasons at Kent State, Louisiana-Monroe and Tulane where he earned All ACC honors. In his 47 college games he collected 15.5 sacks along with 29 TFL.
- Rayshawn Jenkins SS #5 – Jenkins is an 8-year veteran who’s played in 122 games with 89 starts. For his career he has 10 interceptions with 1 TD. Last season he started 9 games for the Seahawks.
- Teven Jenkins G/OT #74 – Jenkins is a 4-year veteran who’s started 38 of his career 45 games. Last season he started 14 games for the Bears.
- Damontae Kazee S #23 – Kazee is entering his 9th year in the NFL, he’s started 63 of his 107 career games with 17 interceptions. Last season he played 15 games for the Steelers with 1 interception.
- Gage Lavadain WR #84 – Lavadain is an undrafted rookie who played at Miami of Ohio and South Carolina. In 23 college games he caught 61 passes for 902 yards with 7 TD’s.
- KT Leveston OT #72 – Leveston spent his 1st season on IR with the Rams before being traded to the Browns this season. He spent 5 seasons at Kansas State where he played in 50 games.
- Cornelius Lucas OT #71- Lucas is an 11-year NFL vet who’s started 54 of his 129 career games. Last season he played 14 games starting 7 for Washington.
- Easton Mascarenas-Arnold LB #42. EMA (I’m not typing that whole name again) is an undrafted rookie who played a combined 50 college games at Oregon State and USC during which he had 7 sacks, 19 TFL and 5 interceptions.
- Donovan McMillon S #31 – McMillon is another undrafted rookie who played a combined 50 games with 1 interception at Florida and Pittsburgh.
- Dylan Sampson RB #22 – Sampson was the Browns 4th round 2025 draft pick after playing 35 games during his 3 years at Tennessee where ran for 2,492 yards, averaging 5.9 yards per carry with 35 rushing TD’s and 40 pass receptions.
- Raheim Sanders RB #35 – Sanders is another undrafted rookie to make the team. In his 44 college games at Arkansas and South Carolina he ran for 3,111 yards with 28 rushing TD’s to go with 76 receptions for 771 yards with 5 TD receptions for 3,882 total yards and 33 TD’s.
- Shedeur Sanders QB #12 – Sanders, the Browns 5th round pick, spent 2 seasons playing for Colorado where his 71.8% completion rate in 2024 set the single season FBS college record for completion percentage. In his 24 games at Colorado he threw for 7,364 yards with 64 TD passes averaging 306.8 passing yards per game.
- Carson Schwesinger LB #49 – Schwesinger was the Browns 2nd round draft pick in 2025 after playing 3 years at UCLA. In his 38 college games he collected 5 sacks, 12 TFL and 2 interceptions. He was so impressive during training camp that the Browns named him the starter at MLB and he will call the defensive signals.
- Andre Szmyt K #25 – After 1 season on the Browns practice squad this will be Szmyt 1st year on the game day roster. In his 60 games kicking at Syracuse he hit 81% of his 105 field goal attempts and 98% of his 203 extra point attempts. In 2018 he earned All- American honors.
- Joe Tryon-Shoyinka LB/DE #90 – JTS is a 4-year NFL vet who’s played in 66 games with 45 game starts. For his career he has 15 sacks along with 21 TFL. Last season for Tampa Bay he started 11 games with 2 sacks and 3 TFL.
- New starters to begin the season will be WR Jamari Thrash #80, MLB Carson Schwesinger #49, DT Maliek Collins #96 and DT Mason Graham #94.
See you Sunday at Burke’s Public House
GO BROWNS……GO GUARDIANS