Sione Takitaki, Cleveland Browns announce new one-year deal
The Browns are taking care of yet another one of their own.
The Browns announced on Thursday that they and linebacker Sione Takitaki have agreed to a new one-year deal. The contract for the former 2019 second-round draft pick, which was originally reported on Tuesday, is worth around $2.6 million.
“Taki is a physical player who plays the game hard,” Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said in a statement. “He’s a great teammate. He was playing at a high level for us last year prior to his injury and he’s working his tail off to make a full recovery.”
Takitaki is the second one of the Browns’ own unrestricted free agents to get a deal done with the team. Center Ethan Pocic agreed to a three-year deal worth a reported $18 million plus incentives, which was announced on Wednesday.
The concern around the deal was due to the torn ACL Takitaki sustained in a Dec. 4 win at the Houston Texans. He finished the season on the injured reserve, one of five linebackers — including all four who were originally considered starters — to be injured by the end of the year.
The Browns and Takitaki both believe he should be able to get back on the field close to the start of the regular season.
However, Takitaki emerged as a true leader among the linebackers once middle linebackers Anthony Walker Jr. and Jacob Phillips each went down with injuries over the first seven games of the season. After starting at the strong-side linebacker spot, he saw significant snaps at middle linebacker between Week 8 and Week 13, when he got hurt.
Takitaki finished with a career-high 71 combined tackles in 12 games last season. He added a sack, a forced fumble and four tackles for loss.
In 57 career games for the BYU product, Takitaki has 203 combined tackles, two sacks, two forced fumbles and 11 tackles for loss. He also has a 50-yard interception return for a touchdown.
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