Six year veteran Trayveon Williams, who spent his whole career with the Cincinnati Bengals, was subsequently released by the Browns.

It’s a low risk move for the Browns since Williams has hardly made a dent in the league and was primarily used for special teams. In his six years in Cincinnati, Williams’ career high in rushing yards was only 157 yards in his sophomore season.

To be clear, even though Judkins has officially signed with the Browns, his status for playing is still up in the air.

Due to his legal situation from the offseason (which the charges were eventually dropped), there may be a few game suspension looming due to violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy,

Judkins had flown to New York to meet with league officials to review his domestic battery arrest back in July on Wednesday.

For the Browns, it’s business as usual.

Running back Dylan Sampson seemed to bypass Jerome Ford as the lead running back in Judkins’ absence.

The rookie running back who was drafted in the fourth round of the 2025 Draft, Sampson did most of his damage in the Week 1 loss to Cincinnati through the air.

While he rushed the ball 12 times for only 12 yards, quarterback Joe Flacco threw to him eight times for 64 yards. Sampson was last season’s SEC Player of the Year while playing for the Tennessee Volunteers. 

It was fascinating though, because Sampson wasn’t used as a pass-catching back a whole lot in his time with Tennessee, and was primarily on the ground. In his junior season at Knoxville, Sampson rushed for an SEC-leading 1,491 yards and another SEC-leading 22 rushing touchdowns.

Releasing Williams also was made easier after Cleveland picked up Raheim “Rocket” Sanders prior to the season starting.

Sanders is an undrafted running back out of South Carolina and was brought on with the Los Angeles Chargers. However, due to the running back depth in L.A., Sanders  was waived and Cleveland ultimately signed him to its main roster.

In his first career NFL game, Sanders was used as a goal-line running back and pushed home a touchdown.

With Judkins signing, and Ford still having a presence in the running back room, it’s uncertain where Sanders stands, but it’s clear that the Browns value him.

Once Judkins officially comes back though, there’s a decision that Cleveland will have to make. Does he start? Will Sampson have earned the starting spot? Does Ford get traded?

Several storylines in The Land are brewing, but it’s certainly something to monitor.