Agents Drew Rosenhaus and Kyle Lincoln told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Sunday that tight end Dae’Quan Wright, who has a contract with LSU for the 2026 season if he clears waivers, was waived by the Cleveland Browns.
Wright, who signed with an NFL team as an undrafted free agent, is thought to be the first player to have an agreement to return to play in college. Following the draft, he signed with the Philadelphia Eagles; on August 11, the Browns claimed him on waivers.
Cleveland’s first two preseason games did not feature him. Despite not having practiced in almost a week, Wright showed up for the Browns’ second preseason game on Saturday against the Buffalo Bills. Wright has been sidelined due to an injury, according to Browns coach Todd Monken.
After being granted a temporary restraining order to return to college for one more season along with a group of athletes who filed a case in Louisiana, Wright formally registered on the transfer portal on Wednesday. It did feel agony was the feeling around Wright’s camp.
When questioned about Wright’s circumstances on Saturday, Monken stated:
“Man, isn’t this s— crazy?”. “I don’t even know what to say.
“I wondered why Lane Kiffin reached out to me a week ago; now I know. I didn’t call him back. I guess I should have.”
In 2024 and 2025, Wright was a player for Kiffin, the first-year LSU coach, at Ole Miss. He caught 39 passes for 635 yards and five scores for the Rebels in the previous campaign.
Wright, whose college eligibility ended last season and who graduated from high school in 2022, filed a lawsuit because he was left out of the NCAA’s new rule, which is less than two months old and gives most Division I athletes five years of eligibility over five years but doesn’t go into effect until the following season.
In an order reversing the federal judge’s ruling that had allowed any athletes who began college in the 2022–2023 academic year and played for four straight seasons to return for a fifth season, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals granted the NCAA a stay Friday morning.
