Former Michigan Wolverines running back Hassan Haskins is back on the NFL circuit.
On Friday, the Cleveland Browns worked out the 26-year-old free agent along with several other veterans, via the NFL transaction wire.
For Wolverines fans, the name still lands with a thud of recognition. Haskins was not just another productive back in Ann Arbor.
In 2021, he became an All-American, earning second-team honors from the American Football Coaches Association and third-team recognition from the Associated Press after a season that helped restore Michigan’s identity as a physical, downhill program.
That year he carried 270 times for 1,327 yards and a then-school-record 20 rushing touchdowns. He was first-team All-Big Ten and Michigan’s offensive player of the year.
The signature night came against Ohio State: 28 carries, 169 yards, five touchdowns in a 42-27 win that ended a long drought in The Game.
A week later, he scored twice in the Big Ten Championship as the Wolverines beat Iowa and reached the College Football Playoff. Over four seasons he piled up 2,324 rushing yards and 30 rushing scores without a fumble on 452 carries.
Tennessee took him in the fourth round of the 2022 draft. The NFL chapter has been harder. He missed 2023 with injury, spent 2024 and 2025 as a depth and special-teams piece with the Chargers, and briefly landed with the Patriots this summer before being released from New England’s practice squad on Sept. 14.
Career totals remain modest: 229 rushing yards, two rushing touchdowns, and extensive kick-return and coverage work.
That last part is why a tryout still makes sense. At 6-foot-2 and 228 pounds, Haskins is a short-yardage body who knows special teams.
Cleveland is looking at extra running backs and line-of-scrimmage depth; a workout is not a roster spot, but it is another chance.
From a Michigan angle, this is familiar. Haskins was the three-star from Eureka, Missouri, who became the prototype of Jim Harbaugh’s run game: patient, physical, willing to finish runs and special-teams snaps.
Maize and Blue fans remember the pile-moving between the tackles more than the modest NFL stat line. An All-American who helped Michigan beat Ohio State and win a Big Ten title does not fade quickly in Ann Arbor.
Whether the Browns sign him is unsettled. What is settled is the résumé that got him in the building: a Wolverine who ran the ball the way Michigan wanted it run, and who is still asking an NFL team to give him one more look.
