Cleveland Browns GM Andrew Berry had a list. Well, more so a manual. It contained jots and notes and basically everything that went wrong with the 2025 season. The issues arose because in the past two seasons, the Browns lost 26 combined games.
Losing 26 out of 34 games ain’t good. That alone can get folks fired from their jobs, and in fact, head coach Kevin Stefanski was canned. And when the head coach is let go, all of his assistants are also released. Talk about an upheaval. Yes, the incoming head coach can retain any of the assistants, but the new coaching staff is usually the guys the new boss has brought in because he has worked with them before on other teams.
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Berry was on a mission. And with this undertaking, he had to boldly go where the successful GMs in the league went. Good decisions were a must, and there were a lot of decisions to be made.
The roster needed quite a bit of change.
The general description of the offense? Stink, stank, stunk. They ranked #30 overall. The defense was at a premium and only required a tweak here and there. And with special teams? Everybody returned.
There is a glaring player who nobody is talking about regarding special teams.
Rex Sunahara, age 29, is the Browns’ long snapper. It’s not a sexy position, and one that really nobody discusses until something bad happens. It is truly an invisible position while the game is ongoing.
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Sunahara came to Cleveland towards the conclusion of the 2024 training camp and competed against long-term veteran Charley Hughlett. Sunahara was waived on the final cutdown and then signed to the practice squad. When Hughlett was injured in October with a severe rib injury, Sunahara was elevated to the main roster.
LINK: CHARLEY HUGHLETT INTERVIEW
Hughlett had signed a four-year, $5.7 million contract extension in 2022. At the time of the announcement, his signing bonus, guarantee, and overall worth became the largest long snapper deal in NFL history.
But after he was cleared of his injury, the Browns decided to go with the cheaper help and released him. Plainly put, Hughlett spent 10 seasons in Cleveland, and it was a shocking decision for the fanbase. Hughlett had handled snapping duties in every game since the start of the 2015 season and was a dependable tackler.
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And so, the Sunahara reign began. He played in 12 games in 2024 and then every game this past season.
During this offseason, he inked a one-year, $1.075 million contract. That increased his salary a smidge after he had gotten a two-year deal originally worth $1.755 million, which had paid him $877,500 a season.
Everything in Sunahara’s universe is rosy and sweet.
For the partial showing in 2024, Sunahara was ranked as the league’s #33 long snapper. Hughlett, who had been snatched up quickly by the Philadelphia Eagles, was ranked #9.
But all of that changed in 2025. Sunahara’s play improved, and he was ranked the league’s #3 long snapper and had the most tackles for his position with seven.
Sunahara grew up as a basketball player on his high school team and then at the University of Rhode Island. He is an Ohio kid, having grown up in Bay Village, Ohio, just west of Cleveland. He was a walk-on with the Rhode Island football team and became the team’s long snapper. He transferred to West Virginia and again was a walk-on with the football squad. Over the next two seasons, he became their long snapper.
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College football has an annual honor given out to the nation’s best long snapper. This prestigious accolade is entitled “The Patrick Mannelly Award.” Sunahara was a semifinalist following the 2019 season. He then garnered invites to the NFLPA Collegiate All-Star Game, plus the Hula Bowl.
As with every long snapper, he went undrafted in the 2020 NFL draft and signed with the Miami Dolphins. They cut him during training camp; he had a workout with the Pittsburgh Steelers but was not offered a contract, and then signed to the Dolphins’ practice squad. Sunahara was a late training camp cut, then was signed to the Steelers’ practice squad, which cut him twice.
He then found a home in the XFL in 2023, signing with the San Antonio Brahmas. When the XFL and USFL merged into one league and were now called the United Football League (UFL), Sunahara signed to play another season for 2024. After a successful season that concluded in June, he inked a training camp contract to compete at Browns camp and then ended up on the practice squad.
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This worked out perfectly for both the player and the franchise when Hughlett became injured. The Browns coaching staff simply slid him into the starting lineup, and Sunahara was now playing in real NFL games with an elevation in pay.
Sunahara is one of many players from the UFL that Berry has signed. Most notable is another specialist, kicker Andre Szmyt, who was playing for the St. Louis Battlehawks.
Other UFL players that Cleveland has signed at some point include TE Sal Cannella, RB Toa Taua, LBs Marvin Moody and LB Charlie Thomas, and CB Keenan Isaac.
So, how do the Browns appear with their special teams?
Szmyt was re-signed for another season. So was punter Corey Bojorquez. Gage Larvadain and Isaiah Bond are listed as the punt returners, while Malachi Corley and Dylan Sampson have been penciled in on the depth chart as kickoff returners. During the offseason, Berry inked special teams return guru Tylan Wallace away from the Baltimore Ravens to become the main return specialist, so we will see.
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LINK: COREY BOJORQUEZ INTERVIEW
Szmyt was ranked the #9 field goal kicker in field goal conversion percentage (88.9%). Bojorquez ranked as the league’s #26 punter in average (45.8), but since the offense was so bad, he had the most punts (93). Larvadain had 24 returns for 167 yards and a 7.0 yards per return average. Corley returned 21 kickoffs for 492 yards with a 23.4 yards per return average. Neither returner had a good ranking.
Cleveland’s bread and butter have been its defense. The franchise is known for having elite defenders.
Last year, this group was ranked #4. But it has something that’s one better: the #3-ranked long snapper in Sunahara.
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