A former All-Big 12 honorable mention selection is heading to the Cleveland Browns.
A former All-Big 12 standout in basketball, that is.
The Browns announced Monday they have signed Marcus Santos-Silva, who played basketball at Texas Tech the past two seasons.
Santos-Silva, listed at 6-foot-7, 250 pounds on the Texas Tech website, will go from playing forward to tight end.
He’s coming off a super senior season in which who averaged 4.7 points and 4.1 rebounds per game. A season prior, Santos-Silva tallied 8.3 points per game and a team-leading 6.4 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game.
The Browns’ tight end room already includes incumbent starter David Njoku and Harrison Bryant, among others, but head coach Kevin Stefanski is a huge proponent of two-tight end sets.
Switching a big-bodied basketball player into a tight end isn’t new in the NFL, with the most well-known being Tony Gonzalez and Antonio Gates. While Gonzalez played basketball and football in college, Gates did not.
Cleveland is hoping Santos-Silva will make a productive switch. So too are the Jacksonville Jaguars, who invited former Clemson basketball player Naz Bohannon to their rookie minicamp, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported.
From the hardwood to the gridiron they go.
