BEREA ― Luke Floriea was content as he got ready to leave the Browns' locker room after the preseason finale against the New England Patriots.
"I'm going to go home, I go to bed tonight," Floriea said following the 37-13 Browns win Aug. 27. "I'm going to put my head on my pillow. I feel like I did everything I could. I got no regrets about how this preseason went or anything I really did. So, yeah, I feel good about things."
The former Mentor High School and Kent State University wide receiver had no reason to think otherwise. He did what he could against the Patriots: Three catches on five targets, 29 receiving yards and, most important, two touchdowns.
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That finale gave Floriea a team-high 95 receiving yards over the three preseason games on six catches. He also scored three touchdowns, all in the two games played in the stadium just 25 miles or so from where he grew up.
That came after a training camp where Floriea was, at times, no worst than third among the Browns' wide receivers in terms of day-to-day performance on the field. So if the Patriots game was Floriea's final argument to try and make the Browns' 53-man roster, it was a solid one.
“All you can ask of your players is to work their rear ends off to keep sharpening their skills, and as coaches, what we ask our coaching to do is our job is to maximize a player’s measurable skill set, we’re in the development business," Browns coach Todd Monken said after the game. "Their job as players is to make it as hard as they can for us, and then do as good a job as they can showcasing their ability for the other 31 teams, because there are only 32 of these teams. So, has Luke made it hard on us? Of course he has. That’s what you’d hope, that when the lights are brightest, a player shows up. And he has.”
The only thing is, will Floriea show up on the Browns' initial roster once the 6 p.m. Aug. 30 cutdown deadline has passed? Or will he have to try and fight his way back, either by coming back as a member of the practice squad or hoping someone takes a chance on him with a waiver claim?
Floriea doesn't know for certain what the future holds. What he's not going to do, though, is just throw away the past experiences because of that uncertainty.
"Some days I still don't believe it." Floriea said. "Some days when I'm up at 6 a.m. driving to the facility, I still can't really believe what I'm doing. I'm living my dream. It's awesome. I hope everyone in their life gets the experience that I'm experiencing right now because it's truly great."
Floriea may be playing for new coaches, but putting together a strong training camp isn't exactly new for him. It's what he was in the process of doing in 2025 after he had signed with the Browns following a rookie minicamp tryout after leaving Kent State.
Injury, though, derailed that dream, as he sustained a hamstring injury while making his only catch of the preseason, a 30-yard grab in the opener at the Carolina Panthers. He was eventually waived from the injured reserve list, but eventually returned to the Browns on the practice squad.
Clearly there's a belief in Floriea by someone inside the organization, because they brought him back on a futures/reserve contract immediately after the 2025 season ended. However, what he wants is to be believed in enough to be part of the 53-man active roster, although there's no shortage of belief in himself after what he's been through the last two Augusts.
"I tell everyone that you kind of got to be delusional to a point where, like, I'm not going to fail," Floriea said. "I'm going to succeed. But there's obviously some times where you're down in the dumps, but just being around these guys, everyone in the locker room is so great. Like, when you get around here and the coaches and everything, I mean, it's hard not to believe in yourself."
Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ. Sign up for Browns Insider newsletter at https://profile.beaconjournal.com/newsletters/browns-insider/
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Luke Floriea's made his pitch. Now he's waiting on Browns' decision
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