Cleveland Browns: Re-Signing Charley Hughlett Another Smart Offseason Move

Specialists are an easily overlooked, yet necessary piece of every NFL roster. The Cleveland Browns have ensured that one of theirs will be sticking around.

Aside from the contract extension given to standout linebacker Jamie Collins, most of the moves made by the Cleveland Browns since the end of the 2016 season have flown under the proverbial radar.

The Browns claimed safety Tyvis Powell and extended the contract of developmental wide receiver Rannell Hall. These aren’t big-name players, but they’re the type of young talents a rebuilding franchise like Cleveland needs to make. If either of these guys pans out, they’re young enough to see the Browns all the way through the rebuilding process.

Cleveland made another similar move this week, inking long-snapper Charley Hughlett to a six-year extension.

According to Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com, the new deal will make Hughlett the highest-paid long-snapper in the NFL.

“I am super excited,” Hughlett said in a release, per Cabot. “I couldn’t be happier to be here. My wife and I are happy to call Cleveland our home. I can’t wait to start getting things turned around.”

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There are two reasons why extending Hughlett, who was an exclusive-rights free agent, now makes sense. The first is that it ensures Cleveland has one less position to worry about during this latest and most-massive rebuild.

While the long-snapper position is easy to overlook—they’re essentially invisible unless something very bad happens—they’re essential to any special-teams unit. As is the case with quarterbacks, punters and kickers, your team either has a reliable long-snapper or it’s constantly searching for one. The Browns feel that Hughlett, who has appeared in all 32 games over the past two years, is their guy, so the search here is over.

The second reason is that Hughlett appears genuinely happy to remain in Cleveland for the long-term. This might not seem like a big deal on the surface, but Cleveland is desperately trying to turn around its image as a woebegone franchise. The more young players on the roster that are buying into the team and the community, the better the atmosphere is going to be for the Browns. Not only will this help improve the work environment in Cleveland, but it will help make the team just a tad more attractive for potential free agents.

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Making this team more attractive is another piece of the long-term puzzle. This is why the long-term extension for Hughlett is a smart move, even if it’s one that most of the football world is likely to overlook.