BEREA, Ohio — The Cleveland Browns have seen their offensive line depleted this offseason, and the team expected high turnover within the unit that they would need to address through the draft or free agency.
But they also made a move to address the line before all of that, set to acquire Tytus Howard in a trade with the Houston Texans, sources told News 5.
Cleveland will send the Texans a fifth-round pick in exchange for Howard, the Texans' starting right tackle.
With a contract expiring this upcoming year, the Browns also plan to sign Howard to a three-year contract extension worth $63 million, sources confirmed.
The deal can not be made official until the new league year begins on March 11 at 4 p.m.
Howard, 29, was selected by the Texans in the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft out of Alabama State. In his rookie debut, he started in seven games at right tackle and one game at left guard, earning All-Rookie Team honors that year from the Pro Football Writers of America.
The 6'5", 322-pound lineman took 628 snaps at right tackle, 402 snaps at left guard and 132 snaps at right guard last season, making him a versatile option for the Browns.
Howard has dealt with a few injuries throughout his career, including a broken hand and a season-ending knee injury in 2023.
With right guard Wyatt Teller already announcing his departure, left guard Joel Bitonio weighing his decision to retire or return, and right tackle Jack Conklin and center Ethan Pocic both set to become free agents, gaining an offensive lineman was critical for the team as they begin building for 2026 with new head coach Todd Monken in control.
General manager Andrew Berry spoke last week at the NFL Scouting Combine about constructing an offensive line.
"I think you could look no further than Baltimore. If you go from left to right on their line, you had Ronnie Stanley, obviously he had been one of the better left tackles in the game. At left guard, you had a combination between Andrew Vorhees, he was more of a strength-related player, and Emory Jones, who was a rookie. Tyler Linderbaum, who was an athletic style center, Daniel Faalele, who was "human orca" big, really big power player, that type of thing. And then Roger Rosengarten, who was more of your athletic style player. So I don't think that there's necessarily just a universal commonality, but they have to have enough of everything to be scheme versatile," Berry said.
He added that the Chicago Bears' model of mixing how they build the line would be something they would likely do as well.
"I actually think what Chicago, what Ryan Poles did last year is a really nice model. If you think about it, they did a combination of internal development, veteran additions and draft, right? You had Darnell Wright, who he really came into his own at right tackle this past year. They traded for Joe Thuney, they traded for Jonah Jackson, they signed (Drew) Dalman free agency and they drafted Ozzy Trapilo in the second round. So it's a nice mixture of youth and experience and I think that we would look to take a similar approach if the player markets line up for us," Berry said.
With a seasoned player coming to Cleveland, the Browns have taken one of those routes. They could still add a first-round talent via the NFL Draft this spring with either pick No. 6 or pick No. 24.
That remains to be seen, but addressing the trenches in any capacity was important, and the Browns wasted no time doing so with the acquisition of Howard.
