The Browns moved quickly to keep one of their most important defensive pieces in place, striking a deal with Maliek Collins just hours before kickoff against the Titans.
Cleveland and Collins agreed to a two-year extension worth $30 million, with $23 million guaranteed, according to NFL insiders Ian Rapoport and Adam Schefter. The contract keeps the veteran defensive tackle with the Browns through the 2028 season, and it comes with Collins in the final year of his previous two-year, $20 million pact.
It’s a timely move for a team that has spent the first part of the season looking like one of the AFC’s most complete surprises. Under new head coach Todd Monken, the Browns entered Sunday at 4-2 and in first place in the AFC North after putting together a run built on tight wins. They beat the Steelers 27-24 in Week 4, slipped past the Ravens 13-10 last weekend, and also took down the Buccaneers 23-19 in Tampa Bay and the Panthers 21-18 at home.
The defense has been a big part of that start. Cleveland was tied for second in the league in sacks with 19 and ranked fifth in points allowed at 20.3 per game.
Collins has been right in the middle of that production. The 31-year-old arrived in Cleveland in March 2025 after a career that started with the Cowboys, who drafted him in the third round in 2016 out of Nebraska.
He spent four seasons in Dallas, then played one year with the Raiders, followed by three seasons in Houston. After a trade to San Francisco, he signed with the Browns and has looked like a player who found a real fit.
In his first season with Cleveland, Collins put up a career-best 6.5 sacks in 12 games before a quad injury ended his year. He’s now back and making noise again, with 16 tackles, five tackles for loss, eight quarterback hits and 3.5 sacks through six games. He has recorded a sack in each of the last three games and has been one of Cleveland’s top pass rushers.
For a Browns defense already doing damage across the board, the extension secures a proven interior force and keeps a key veteran in the building before he could reach free agency after the season.
In Other News...
Titans Loss Just Fueled Another Brutal Officiating Debate
The officiating chatter around a recent NFL game in Nashville has lingered long after the final whistle, and not just because of the outcome. Several errors were noted in real time, including a missed false start on a key play, a facemask penalty that went uncalled on a third-down sack, and a likely missed touchdown by Titans quarterback Cam Ward that had plenty of fans and observers rewatching the sequence.
For Tennessee, the frustration is less about one isolated play than the pattern that emerged across the afternoon. The calls, or non-calls, quickly took over social media and added another layer to a familiar league-wide complaint about consistency, leaving the Titans with more questions about how the game was officiated than about the snap-by-snap action itself. [Read more 🡒]
Cam Ward Offered A Frustrating Explanation For That Late Titans Miss
Cam Ward had a chance to help the Titans extend a late drive against the Browns, but the rookie quarterback sailed a wide-open throw to tight end Daniel Bellinger in a moment that stood out immediately on a frustrating afternoon. Ward finished 15 of 29 for 142 yards with one interception and three sacks, and the miss came in a game where Tennessee needed every clean snap it could get.
Ward later pointed to excitement as the reason for the errant throw, and the encouraging part for Tennessee was how quickly he moved on. He settled back in and hit key passes later in the drive, a small but meaningful sign that the mistake did not linger even if the result still did. [Read more 🡒]
Vikings Just Claimed The NFL Spot Every Contender Wants
After seven weeks, the NFLs poles have been set, and for teams like the Titans, the gap between those extremes only feels wider. Minnesota is still the leagues lone unbeaten team, while the Chargers remain stuck as the only club without a win, a strange place for a contender landscape to be this early. Tennessee, meanwhile, sits at 1-6 and is dealing with a far more familiar kind of pressure, the kind that starts inside the building when losses keep piling up and the answers are getting harder to find.
Robert Saleh has already made his frustration with offensive coordinator Brian Daboll clear, and for a Titans team that badly needs stability, that tension matters as much as the record itself. The Chargers had the week off and still came out of it carrying the same issues that have haunted them all season, injuries and inconsistency among them, but Tennessees situation feels more immediate because the frustration is now public. At this point, the Titans are not just chasing wins - they are chasing calm. [Read more 🡒]