Cleveland Browns may be lacking confidence in RB room after tweet

Earlier this morning, Dianna Russini sent out a tweet that three teams, including the Cleveland Browns, were making calls in search of running back additions.  Three weeks ago, this would have made sense to me.  After letting Nick Chubb walk away, there were some serious questions about the depth of this position.

Sources: Teams making calls in search of running back additions include the Saints, Browns and Chiefs.

— Dianna Russini (@DMRussini) August 21, 2025

But now this raises a lot of questions.  Is there a lack of faith in Jerome Ford?  Does Andrew Berry not think they will be able to get a deal done with Quinshon Judkins before the start of the season?  Or is this just Berry doing his due diligence on the position with a low likelihood of anything happening?

Though Cleveland second-round pick Quinshon Judkins will not face any charges, he and the Browns still have been unable to reach a deal and may not until the end of any NFL investigation. pic.twitter.com/QzbE6j8tsK

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 18, 2025

As we are now less than a week before NFL rosters must be cut down to 53 from 90, there will be a lot of trade activity around the NFL, but it’s usually involving players at the bottom of the depth chart and late-round picks. 

Seeing the Browns are inquiring about running backs today still doesn't add up.  With Judkins (who remains unsigned) and Dylan Sampson from the draft and Ahmani Marshall looking strong in the preseason, it felt like Berry was going to have a tough decision on who to cut (between Marshall and Pierre Strong Jr).

If the Browns added a running back at this point via trade, they would be looking at cutting both Strong and Marshall, and would need to carry four running backs into the regular season, with Ford restructuring his deal in May that all but locks him to the roster in 2025.

Remember, the Browns are always making phone calls and are always active in monitoring trade values, so I would say that is all this is, and don’t expect them to make an addition at running back before the start of the season.