Breaking Browns Cut Cedric Tillman — a Former Third-Rounder Is Suddenly on the Market
Cleveland is releasing the 2023 third-round receiver as it trims to 53, per ESPN's Adam Schefter. A crowded room and two fresh draft picks pushed him out.
August 27, 2026 at 4:53 PM EDT
1 min read
The Cleveland Browns are releasing wide receiver Cedric Tillman, ESPN's Adam Schefter reported Thursday, as the club works its roster down to the 53-man limit before Sunday's league-wide deadline.
Schefter's report on X: Browns releasing Cedric Tillman
Tillman was Cleveland's third-round pick (74th overall) out of Tennessee in 2023. Over three seasons and 38 games he caught 71 passes for 833 yards and five touchdowns — flashes, but never a locked-in role. The move follows Deshaun Watson's return to the starting job and, more to the point, a receiver room that got crowded fast: the Browns spent two early 2026 picks on the position, and the math stopped working for a fourth-year holdover.
Who should call
Tillman is exactly the profile that clears waivers and lands a depth-chart look somewhere within days — 25, decent size, cheap, and only a year removed from real snaps. A receiver-needy team late in camp could do far worse for the back end of a room.
The market angle
A single depth-receiver cut doesn't move a Week 1 number by itself. But cutdown weekend is when rosters — and the season-long pictures built on them — quietly firm up, and the receivers who change teams now are the ones who surface as sleeper prop values once a new offense gives them a role. File the name; the value shows up later, not tonight.