Cleveland Browns Sign Former 2023 All-Pro Linebacker
Former Jacksonville Jaguars and New York Jets linebacker Quincy Williams signed a two-year contract worth up to $17 million with the Cleveland Browns on Monday, per Jordan Schultz. Williams, a seven-year veteran of the NFL, is coming off a solid 2025 campaign in which he recorded 83 tackles and three and a half sacks across 13 games with the Jets. 2025 was actually considered a down year for the 29-year-old Murray State product, as he missed a few games last season due to a shoulder injury. Before last season, Williams recorded three consecutive years with at least 105 tackles, two sacks, and 12 TFL’s for New York.
His tenure with the Jets was highlighted by a First-Team All-Pro finish in 2023, in which Williams logged 139 tackles, two forced fumbles, an interception, and appeared in 16 out of 17 games. In Cleveland, Williams will reunite with Browns defensive coordinator Mike Rutenberg, who served as the Jaguars assistant linebackers coach during Williams’ rookie season in 2019, and was the linebackers coach for the Jets from 2021 to 2024 during the bulk of Williams’ success in New York. Williams, who is the brother of Dallas Cowboys defensive tackle Quinnen Williams, was drafted by Jacksonville in the third round of the 2019 NFL Draft. Despite being a Day Two pick, Williams did not see much playing time in Duval and was ultimately waived by the Jaguars during the 2021 preseason after just appearing in 18 games.
What followed was a breakout 2021-2022 season from Williams, in which he notched the first 100-tackle season of his career and cemented himself as a full-time starter. Two years later, he was named by the Associated Press to his first All-Pro team after a dominant 2023 campaign. Between Week Four and Week Seven of that season, Williams recorded between nine and 13 tackles each game and played nearly every defensive snap for the Jets. He now finds himself as the Browns’ replacement for Devin Bush, who inked a new contract with the Chicago Bears on Monday. Cleveland’s linebacker room now seems quite formidable, as general manager Andrew Berry has now given 2025 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year winner Carson Schwesinger a sterling off-ball linebacker to wreak havoc with.
