BEREA, Ohio — Luke Floriea is 23 years old, and for nearly all of his life, he has been in love with football. The passion started young for the Mentor native.
"Shoot, probably when I was two or three years old. I have an older brother that's five years older than me... he started playing football when he was seven. So, once I was going to all his games, I'm like, 'I want to do that. I want to play football,'" he said.
Watching his brother Jake play motivated Floriea to follow in his footsteps. He did that as a receiver at Mentor High School, helping lead the Cardinals to the Division I state semifinals game in his senior year, recording 52 receptions for 939 yards and 14 touchdowns that season.
Floriea remained in Northeast Ohio after high school, playing for the Kent State Golden Flashes for the past five years. After COVID-19 ended the 2020 season early, Floriea's production increased over the next four years, this past season bringing in 44 receptions with 699 yards and seven touchdowns. He contributed to special teams as well, notching 107 kick return yards on six attempts.
That whole time, Floriea was watching the Cleveland Browns as a lifelong fan.
"Huge Browns fan. My dad had season tickets for the first 15 years of my life, so I was going to a lot of the Browns games and growing up, watching all the guys through all the years. So it's exciting to kind of be in their shoes now," Floriea said.
Not just in their shoes because he's continuing his football career after college, but because he's now wearing orange and brown on the field, not just in the stands.
Floriea didn't hear his name called during the 2025 NFL Draft. But after going undrafted, the wide out received an invite to the Browns' rookie minicamp earlier this month. He was one of 27 hopefuls brought into CrossCountry Mortgage Campus for the offseason workouts. During the sessions, he impressed.
From doing well in routine individual drills to making plays, like a deep touchdown reception from rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders, the Browns were happy with Floriea's performance.
"He's acquitted himself very nicely, knows what to do, gets open, catches the ball—he's doing a nice job," said head coach Kevin Stefanski at the end of rookie minicamp.
For Floriea, the opportunity was about showcasing his greatest strength: Consistency.
"Coming in every day and I wanted to be consistent. Learning the playbook, which everyone says is the hardest part," Floriea said. "I feel like I did a good job understanding it for the most part. And just coming in here and being a guy that the quarterbacks can rely on. They're new to the offense, too. So just knowing when I'm out there that they can throw me the ball and a good thing can happen."
A good thing certainly happened for Floriea after the rookie minicamp.
The Browns signed Floriea to an undrafted free agent contract, extending the opportunity from a tryout to a member of the offseason roster.
A little highlight reel from Mentor native and former Kent State Golden Flash Luke Floriea at #Browns OTAs today. pic.twitter.com/LyvG4J2xU8
— Camryn Justice (@camijustice) May 28, 2025
"I still don't know that it's hit me yet. I woke up a couple of days after being here for a little bit, I'm like, 'Wow, I'm really kind of doing this.' But I don't know if I've had that moment yet where [it's like], 'Wow, I'm actually here. I'm actually waking up every day and living my dream,'" he said.
His family is thrilled that their son gets to stay home and chase his dreams. Floriea believes that he can provide depth to the receiver room, allow the Browns to go into 11 personnel or 10 personnel and utilize his ability to get open, and of course, provide his services on special teams.
Floriea is taking it all in, and now with OTAs underway, is getting to learn from veterans on the field each session.
He wants to bring his passion for football and for the Browns onto the field in every opportunity he gets.
"I'm going to come out here, I'm going to give it my all every game, preseason game, regular season game, practice—I'm going to come out here and give it 100% every day. I know how much this team means to people here. I know they're dying for a Super Bowl, and hopefully I can come in and be a piece of that and help bring one to Cleveland," Floriea said.
As the offseason continues and OTAs turn into training camp and the 2025 season draws near, Floriea hopes to keep impressing and eventually earn a spot on the 53-man roster.
"I couldn't have written it any better. I'm excited to be playing for my hometown Browns," Floriea said.
