Browns Acquire Justin Hardee, a CB.
The Cleveland Browns have signed free agent corner Justin Hardee. Though he’s listed as a corner, Hardee’s career has almost exclusively been on special teams.
Entering his eighth season in the NFL, Hardee has played 2,085 snaps on special teams compared to 120 snaps on defense, almost all of which came between 2018 and 2019. Hardee is a core special teamer. He’s been good enough in that capacity for teams to ignore his inability to contribute in another capacity. At a hair under 6’1″, nearly 200 pounds with excellent speed, Hardee has almost the ideal physical makeup for a role on special teams.
Hardee’s build is similar to Mike Ford Jr., who played contributed on special teams for the Browns in 2023. Ford signed with the Houston Texans this offseason.
Hardee was a wide receiver at the University of Illinois. He was second on the team in receptions and yards in 2016. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a great year for Illini as that only amounted to 25 receptions and 314 yards. The fact that he’s carved out a career this long almost entirely on special teams is a testament to how effective he’s been.
The 30-year old Hardee most recently played for the New York Jets for three years, but his first four years were with the New Orleans Saints. In the last five seasons, he has been on every single special teams unit. The Jets actually never used him on defense. They had enough talent ahead of him so that they never needed him to contribute there. The Browns are likely to have similar goals in mind with Hardee.
Hardee would be the latest move in what has been another proactive offseason on special teams for the Browns. They signed running back Nyheim Hines who could be a factor on offense as well as the return game, potentially both for kickoffs and punts. They re-signed Corey Bojorquez as the team’s punter. They also signed free agent corner Tony Brown, who will likely be competing with Hardee for a role on the team.
In what will be the second year under special teams coach Bubba Ventrone, the Browns will be looking to improve upon last year’s performance. The team finished 11th in Rick Gosselin’s special teams ranking, so this will be an opportunity to return to the top 10.
