Browns reshuffle a thin cornerback room before camp

Training camp hasn't even opened and the Browns are already tinkering with their secondary. Cleveland signed cornerback Damarri Mathis off a workout Tuesday and, to clear the spot, waived Dom Jones with a failed physical designation. Adam Schefter had the transaction first, and it's the kind of roster paperwork that barely registers in July but matters a lot once real games start.

Mathis isn't a name Browns fans have to Google. He was Denver's 4th-round pick out of Pitt in 2022 and spent 3 seasons opposite Patrick Surtain II, starting a career-high 11 games as a rookie and logging 18 starts total across 43 games in Broncos silver and blue. He had his rough patches — four defensive pass interference calls in a single game against the Chargers as a rookie is the kind of stat that sticks — but he was a legitimate starting-caliber corner in the AFC when healthy.

Healthy is the operative word. Denver waived Mathis during final cuts last year, Carolina claimed him off waivers, and then a torn ACL ended that stint almost immediately, wiping out his 2024 season. He's now 27 and reportedly earned this deal with a workout in Cleveland, which says as much about where the Browns' cornerback depth chart stands as it does about Mathis himself.

That depth chart just got thinner at the bottom with Jones' exit. He signed with Cleveland as an undrafted free agent out of North Dakota State last year, played in 8 games as a rookie, and then had his season ended by a knee injury in Week 11. A failed physical designation now means that knee still isn't cleared, and it's a rough way for an undrafted rookie's tenure to end before he ever got a real shot to build on that debut year.

None of this is a marquee move, but it's exactly the kind of transaction that decides who's fighting for a roster spot in August. Cornerback was already a question mark for Cleveland, and swapping in a former AFC North starter for a corner who can't pass a physical is a low-cost, sensible bet. Whether Mathis can stay on the field is the whole ballgame — that's the exact issue that got him waived by Denver and derailed his season in Carolina.