Ethan Pocic played well for the Browns in a pinch and then fought back from injury in an attempt to finish the season.

Now he's hoping to stay in Cleveland despite his one-year contract being scheduled to expire in March.

“That would be a dream come true, man. That would be awesome,” Pocic told the Beacon Journal on Thursday. “So we'll see what happens. That would be a dream come true, though.”

When the Browns signed Pocic in March, they secured a contingency plan they wound up needing. Nick Harris served as the first-string center in the offseason, yet Pocic became the man in the middle after Harris suffered a season-ending knee injury in the Aug. 12 preseason opener.

ProFootballFocus.com has Pocic ranked third among the 39 qualifying centers it has graded this season, and the Browns think highly of him, too. A fifth-round draft pick in 2020 with just two regular-season starts, Harris remains unproven at the NFL level.

“What a great job [Pocic] has done really stepping in when Nick got hurt right away and never really missed a beat with him,” Browns offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt said. “A great job of the guys upstairs [in the front office] getting him into the building.”

Browns quarterback Jacoby Brissett celebrates with center Ethan Pocic (55) after a second-half TD by Amari Cooper against the Bengals, Monday, Oct. 31, 2022, in Cleveland.

A former Seattle Seahawks starter, Pocic is slated to become an unrestricted free agent at 4 p.m., March 15.

“I would think we would [want to re-sign him],” Van Pelt said. “I don’t make those decisions, but I don’t think there is anything in his play this year that we would say we wouldn’t want to see him again next year.” Pocic, 27, explained earlier this season once he realized free agency would not yield a lucrative contract for him this past spring, he wanted to sign with the Browns because of their coaching staff and roster. His one-year deal is worth a veteran minimum base salary of $1.035 million, according to an NFL Players Association database, plus a $152,500 signing bonus, per spotrac.com. He believes highly respected offensive line coach Bill Callahan has helped him improve as a technician in the trenches.

“I just feel like this is where God called me to be,” Pocic said. “This is what God wanted. Just coming in here, working with Bill and [assistant O-line coach] Scott [Peters] and then everything around them, whether it be the O-linemen, the weight room, the training room, everyone's on point, so you've got a lot of good help around you.

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