The Cleveland Browns may have made a critical error with safety Ronnie Hickman. A recent report reveals the team used a less secure contract tender.

According to a Sunday post by the Dawg Pound on X, the Browns brought in Hickman through Right of First Refusal (ROFR), and any team can offer him a new deal with a paycheck, and the Browns could match.

“Interesting update. The tender for Ronnie Hickman is just a right of first refusal; it’s not a 2nd-round tender like originally reported. So it would roughly be a 1-year/$3.26M deal. If a team offers him anything more, the Browns will have the opportunity to match and keep Hickman for 2026. If they don’t, then free safety immediately becomes a glaring need for this defense,”  the X post read.

Up until now, many fans were under the impression that Hickman was a 2nd-round tender.

A second-round tender would have locked things down for the Cleveland Browns, forcing any interested team to pay a steep price just to make a move on Ronnie Hickman. But that is not the route they took. A right of first refusal tender offers little security.

The Browns Need to Decide On Hickman’s Tender Quickly

The Browns still have a clean way out. They can bypass the tender altogether and lock Ronnie Hickman into a multi-year deal. This is the one move that perhaps most analysts would suggest.

Technically, Cleveland could also pull the plug and release him into the open market. But that is very unlikely.

Early projections had Ronnie Hickman trending toward a $5.8 million tag, but Cleveland pulled back, opting for a lighter right of first refusal tender worth just over $3 million.

The safety has been reliable with his 51 solo tackles and two interceptions in the 2025 season.

As a Browns defensive player, he has played in 41 games, recording one touchdown and 173 tackles in total.

The Browns have made their priorities clear this offseason. With moves like bringing in Tytus Howard, the focus has been firmly on fixing the offense. But on the defensive side, it has been more calculated. Sam Kamara was initially left untendered before Cleveland circled back.

Will the Browns let go of another one and regret it immediately? Read more at the Cleveland Browns Community!

Written by

Akanksha Biradar

Edited by

Aadesh Dhote