Cedric Tillman is looking for a new NFL home. The former Tennessee Volunteers wide receiver has been waived by the Cleveland Browns as the team began trimming its roster ahead of the 53-man cutdown deadline.
For Vol fans who watched Tillman blossom on Rocky Top, the news is familiar and a little bittersweet.
The 6-foot-3, 215-pound receiver never became the consistent No. 1 target Cleveland hoped for when it selected him in the third round (74th overall) of the 2023 draft. Injuries and a crowded receiver room finally closed the door.
Tillman’s Tennessee story still resonates. After quiet early seasons, he exploded in 2021 under Josh Heupel, catching 64 passes for 1,081 yards and 12 touchdowns.
That year, he became the Vols’ first 1,000-yard receiver since Justin Hunter in 2012 and set a school record with a touchdown catch in seven straight games. Over five seasons in Knoxville he finished with 109 receptions, 1,622 yards and 17 scores, tying for 10th on the program’s career receiving-touchdown list.
Those traits — size, contested-catch ability, and a knack for finding the end zone — made him an appealing mid-round pick. In Cleveland he appeared in 38 games with 19 starts and posted 71 catches for 833 yards and five touchdowns.
His best stretch came in 2024, when he had 29 receptions for 339 yards and three scores, including a two-touchdown game against Baltimore. A late-season concussion ended that year. A hamstring injury cost him time in 2025. An undisclosed camp injury this summer kept him off the preseason field and buried him on the depth chart behind Jerry Jeudy and rookies KC Concepcion and Denzel Boston.
The Browns’ investment in young receivers left little room for a player whose production never matched his snap count. Tillman, 26, was due about $3.6 million in the final year of his rookie deal.
Waiving him creates cap space and only a small dead-money charge. He is subject to waivers; if he clears, he becomes a free agent.
From a Tennessee perspective, this is not the end of the story so much as another chapter. Plenty of Vols have needed a second stop to find their NFL footing.
Tillman still has the frame and the vertical threat that once stretched SEC secondaries. A team that needs a big body opposite a speed receiver could give him a fresh look.
For now, Rocky Top remembers the 2021 breakout more than the Browns’ box scores.
Tillman’s next landing spot will tell whether that version of the player can still show up on Sundays.
