Former Ole Miss tight end Dae’Quan Wright has been waived by the Cleveland Browns and has an agreement in place to return to the collegiate ranks if given the chance. And Rebel fans will not like his preferred destination.
Wright suited up for Cleveland and head coach Todd Monken on Saturday before being cut by the franchise and has an arrangement to play for Lane Kiffin and LSU this season if he clears NFL waivers, as he committed to the program via the transfer portal on Sunday. Wright would also reunite with former position coach Joe Cox if he plays for the Tigers. It is uncertain whether or not Ole Miss pursued the prospect of bringing Wright back to Oxford, though first-year Rebel head coach Pete Golding has stated that he is happy with his roster’s makeup.
The purported agreement between Wright and LSU served as a de facto fallback option if the former Ole Miss player did not make the Browns’ 53-man roster. If Wright is allowed to play for the Tigers this season, he will be the first player to compete in the NFL to go back to college as a student-athlete.
The Georgia native’s name began circulating across news headlines when a Louisiana judge issued a temporary restraining order on Aug. 19 granting 32 athletes, also including former Ole Miss safety Wydett Williams Jr. and defensive tackle Zxavian Harris, the option to enter the transfer portal and gain a fifth year of eligibility. Wright was one of the athletes named in the injunction, and there was speculation that the process of taking these players’ cases to court was spearheaded by none other than Kiffin and the LSU athletics department.
The speculation was seemingly legitimized when Wright entered the portal Aug. 20, and on Saturday when Monken, during his postgame presser after the Browns fell to the Buffalo Bills, noted that he had been contacted by Kiffin.
“Man, that s**t is crazy … I wondered why Lane Kiffin reached out a week ago,” Monken said, adding that Wright had missed some team activities last week due to an injury but was medically cleared to play Saturday. “Now I know. I didn’t know. Now I know. I didn’t call him back. I guess I should have.”
LIVE: HC Todd Monken and select players speak to the media after the gamehttps://t.co/CjxbF3CIx4
— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) August 22, 2026
Wright spent two seasons with Ole Miss after transferring to the program from Virginia Tech. He played a notable role in the Rebels’ historic 13-win 2025-26 campaign — one that ended in the semifinals of the College Football Playoff.
In 2025-26, he logged 39 receptions for 635 yards and five touchdowns. He went undrafted in the 2026 NFL Draft but signed an undrafted free agent deal with the Philadelphia Eagles before being picked up by the Browns. Wright would likely be a second tight end option to LSU standout Trey’Dez Green if he overcomes upcoming hurdles.
The injunction to grant Wright and others an additional college season followed a Colorado judge’s ruling that allowed all class of 2022 student-athletes to compete for a fifth year in light of the NCAA’s newly-adopted five-year eligibility rule. The new rule eliminates redshirts and gives student-athletes a five-year window to play college sports. The Colorado case was upended by the U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, which allowed the NCAA to enforce its eligibility rules.
Nonetheless, the appeals court’s decision does not apply to the student-athletes in the Louisiana case, though a precedent has been set that the NCAA has enforcement authority over eligibility. A preliminary injunction hearing will be held in Baton Rouge on Aug. 31 to determine if the court will supersede the NCAA’s rules altogether.
Another layer has been added to Wright’s case, as SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey has repeatedly said that the conference will not allow intra-conference transfers outside of the designated portal window in January. LSU, however, could challenge the league on that rule, or employ a different approach. The LSU athletics department could argue that Wright is coming to the program from Cleveland, not Ole Miss, thus eliminating the intra-conference nature of the agreement.
Nonetheless, Sankey is not expected to go for that argument, as he has staunchly opposed professional athletes competing in the SEC.
In February, Sankey filed a legal affidavit supporting the NCAA’s efforts to block Charles Bediako from playing for Alabama this past basketball season. The Crimson Tide brought Bediako back to Tuscaloosa after a temporary restraining order from a local judge allowed him to return to the program, despite signing a two-way contract with an NBA franchise and even competing in the G League.
As things stand, Wright is not cleared to return to LSU. His agency representation is confident that he will get to play for Kiffin this year. And if that is the case, Sept. 19 just got a lot more interesting. The Ole Miss-LSU matchup in Oxford is already the talk of the town, but a former Rebel player — one who is rumored to have attempted to sit out during the playoff run — coming back to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in purple and gold, is going to ignite quite the firestorm.
Wright, if cleared, wouldn’t be the only former Rebel to play for Kiffin this season. LSU notably brought in former Ole Miss edge rusher Princewill Umanmielen, offensive tackle Devin Harper, wide receiver Winston Watkins Jr., and linebacker TJ Dottery during the January portal cycle. Umanmielen and Harper signed revenue-sharing deals with Ole Miss prior to their jump to Baton Rouge, which has brought about a legal battle between the two players and their former institution over buyouts.
