Ronnie Hickman
Cleveland BrownsUNDERPAIDModel Score
How good he is at what he is supposed to be doing, out of 100. Not a projection of what he will do next, and not a read on his contract. Median is about 70, and a 95 is rare. How it is built →
Season Stats · 17 games
Draft & College
Covers the college seasons in our data, which does not always reach back to a player's first year.
Comps
STM Take
Back-to-back tier 3 (#22, #22) finishes as a 2023 UDFA puts Hickman in the rare outlier-positive S class. The Ohio State Big Ten UDFA origin plus three years of Browns system experience give him real foundation. The 2026 question is whether Hickman earns his first Pro Bowl plus holds tier 3 territory or whether the structural mid-career instability returns.
Hickman came out of Ohio State as a 2023 undrafted free agent signed by the Cleveland Browns. He delivered a tier 3 (#22) STTM rookie finish before regressing to tier 8 (#81) in 2024 and bouncing back to tier 3 (#22) in 2025. His STTM career compresses to two tier 3 finishes bracketing a tier 8 dip.
Strengths
- Back-to-back tier 3 (#22, #22) finishes as a 2023 UDFA puts him in the rare outlier-positive S class.
- Ohio State Big Ten UDFA origin plus three years of Browns system experience gives him real foundation.
Concerns
- Career STTM volatility (tier 3 rookie, tier 8 sophomore, tier 3 in 2025) confirms the ceiling can swing across seasons.
- Cleveland's broader defensive identity around Myles Garrett's primary pass-rush priority puts continued Hickman production partly dependent on team-fit.
What to watch: Whether Hickman earns his first Pro Bowl in 2026 plus holds tier 4 or better, the threshold for confirming the structural ceiling holds.