Update on Browns Free Agency

Last year, the Browns made a ton of good moves in the free agency part of the off-season. This year has not lived up to last year's standards. Seeing as how the Browns went 7-9 despite losing their last five games with a crazy quarterback situation, they probably don't need to do a ton. It's not the overhaul that many media members around the NFL think it needs to be. There are still pro bowlers on this team and a few up-and-coming young players who could do a lot this year. We dealt with a lot of injuries down the stretch, including our D-line, O-line, and best LB Karlos Dansby. Not that those are excuses, but it's not easy to overcome. Josh Gordon was out of sync and we battled a RB situation that was pleasantly unexpected.

So for this year, I don't think we need to do a ton. Mainly get healthy, fill some holes, and get a QB. Most of the experts conclude that they five biggest needs for the Browns are at WR, QB, TE, OLB, and DT. In my last post, I said that their biggest needs were QB, O-line depth (especially on that right side), WR, D-line, OLB, and CB. With these new additions and subtractions, those needs have changed a little bit. I think our five biggest needs (in order) are now QB, OLB, TE, D-line, and O-line. The draft will probably plug in some of these holes.

We know have a better idea of what the draft will look like from the early results of free agency. Here is a list of newly-acquired players the Browns picked up this off-season:

Josh McCown, QB. A lot of the Browns' success will be determined by this man. I don't think anyone believes him to be the savior of Cleveland football, but the Browns have shown what they can do with a decent QB. McCown has been basically a starter for the last two years, one of them good and one of them bad. Tampa wasn't a good team last year, so that may have more to do with it than he's just washed up. Hoyer was my hope to be the guy in Cleveland, but once teams got tape on him, he couldn't adjust. If McCown turns out to be a good fit for this system, expect the guy the Browns inevitably draft this year and/or next year to reap the benefits of learning from a veteran QB. This was a good choice amongst a lack of options. And at least Manziel isn't starting.

Dwayne Bowe, WR. Three years ago, this would've been a great signing. Now, it's probably just a good one. He's a very talented player, and teamed up with Josh Gordon could be a great 1-2 punch. But Gordon is out for the year, so now Hawkins and Hartline will most likely be his companions. Bowe can still play, but it remains to be seen how well. His antics off the field may make this signing a bad one, but in his defense he was a little frustrated in Andy Reid's offense that kind of left him out. For one thing, it is nice to have a talented player coming in with a chip on his shoulder.

Brian Hartline, WR. An Ohio native, this was a nice pickup for the Browns. In order of pickups, I like this one second behind McCown. He's a reliable starter who wasn't expecting the Browns to have this good of a vision. The other team on his radar? The New England Patriots. If there's any player you would like to have, it's whoever the Super Bowl champs are also looking at.

Randy Starks, DT. With some Browns sources acknowledging the likely departure of Rubin and possible one of Kitchen and Fua, Cleveland needed to get someone in there. He's likely a starter at DT but could be rotated at DE as well. He'd get more playing time in the middle.

Tramon Williams, CB. Some controversy with this one. Most people would agree he's a good player and he's coming from a good organization. Some don't like the contract. With the D-line potentially losing a few players, the Browns probably felt shoring up the secondary would be the next best thing. Teamed up with Haden, Williams brings stability and veteran leadership. Gilbert, K'waun Williams, and Desir are all young players who will not only get some playing time, but will be able to learn from some of the best.

Thad Lewis, QB. This signing probably means Thigpen won't stay long in Cleveland. Having a veteran QB amongst the two 2nd-year players Manziel and Shaw will be good.


Of course, they've also re-signed some guys:

John Hughes, DE. Good re-signing as it strengthens their depth at D-line. He's had to deal with a lot of injuries, which is another good reason Cleveland has depth here.

Marlon Moore, WR. This one is okay. When they re-signed him, they didn't have Hartline or Bowe so they really just needed bodies with Cameron gone, Gordon out for the year, and the other WR signings not panning out.


Unfortunately, there is also a list of players who have left the program:

Jordan Cameron, TE. I was bummed that we couldn't re-sign Cameron, but I get why he wanted out. He's an on-the-fence pro bowl talent-level player. When in the right offense, he can be really good. Last year with Shanahan, he didn't get much love in terms of offensive schemes. I personally love using TE's on offense. Are they blocking for a run? Are they blocking for a pass? Are they going out for a pass? Are they a pass decoy? Who knows, right?! Cameron will have more success than he did last year when he goes to Miami, but we didn't lose a top-ten player on our team. He may be #11 though.

Brian Hoyer, QB. This one hurts. I wanted him to be the guy, but I can admit when a plan isn't going well despite my wanting it to. He's not a good starter on this team. He may be elsewhere, but we'll see. He's off to Houston who has more than one choice at QB. Good luck, Brian. No hard feelings.

Jabaal Sheard, OLB. Sheard is a really good player, as shown by the team who picked him up: the Patriots. He's not a great fit for the defensive scheme in Cleveland, though. As a defensive head coach, Pettine wants guy who fit his vision. While Sheard is a good player, he may not be the right kind of player the Browns need. They are pretty deep at OLB, which also lessens the impact of the loss.

Ray Agnew, RB. We've got some really good, young RB's so losing him isn't a big deal. We also lost Ben Tate during the year, and if losing Tate wasn't that bad, this hurts even less.

Ahtyba Rubin, DT. Rubin has been a Browns staple for years. However, Pettine is a defensive guy, and if there's a reason he didn't want to lock this guy up for a few more years, I'll trust him. I really like Rubin on the D-line though. It definitely sets the Browns back a bit on the line.

Buster Skrine, CB. Skrine had a really good year last year, but I don't think he's a great player. The year before last, Skrine was on the fence for even being a starter. I think he benefited from having a pair of great safeties last year. His biggest knock before then was he got beat by the deep ball...a lot. Gipson really stepped up, especially in interceptions, and Whitner is a pro-bowl level guy. Definitely an upgrade over T.J Ward now that we've seen him with the Broncos. If Skrine doesn't have a pair of great safeties helping him out, he may not even remain a starter on his new team.

Paul McQuistan, OL. This guy came from Seattle last year and I was hoping he'd turn out to be a good starter on an already really good O-line. Turns out he didn't. Good risk taken by the Browns on him. It didn't work out, and that's okay. Greco and Schwartz are more than capable starters on the right side of that line, and Cleveland will probably add some more depth before the off-season is over.


Obviously any free agent is up for grabs for the Browns, but here is the list of free agents in Cleveland who may or may not come back:

Miles Austin, WR. Austin is interesting. It's not always about having the best guy, sometimes it's about the best value. The Patriots live by this motto and I agree with it. Getting Tim Tebow in the sixth round would not have been a bad decision. Picking him up in the first round? Bad choice. Overpaid players ruin value. It's okay to get a great player, but not at a huge price tag. Look at Kobe. Great player, but he's too old for his lucrative contract. You pay players for what they're going to do, not what they've done. An example of a great value is Russell Wilson. He's still on his rookie contract! Once the Seahawks have to pay him, they won't be able to afford other pro bowl players along with Wilson. If we can keep Austin for a good price, it could work out well.

Johnson Bademosi, CB. I don't agree with Rex Ryan's CB philosophy, so I vote we get rid of Bademosi. I don't mind picking up another CB, but with Joe Haden (pro bowl), Tramon Williams (best Green Bay corner, really good player now), Justin Gilbert (talented but unproven), K'Waun Williams (played well last year, young), and Pierre Desir (very talented, long, young), we have a solid five players in the rotation. We still have Poyer and James as potential backups, but it wouldn't be too hard to find another young player to learn from two great veteran leaders in Haden and T. Williams.

Sione Fua, DT. Big guy, experienced, and quick for his position. I'd rather not lose him, especially since he'd come on the cheaper end. If we do lose him, he could probably be replaced with a guy in the draft which is the way the Browns seem to want to go.

Tashaun Gipson, FS. This is the one guy they really really need to re-sign. Hopefully Pettine, who follows the Rex Ryan philosophy of never having enough CB's, will see the value in having a pair of elite safeties. Gipson has reached that level.

Ishmaa'ily Kitchen, DE. I'd like to see him re-signed. He knows the system, has been able to fill the backup role, and is our biggest D-lineman not named Phil Taylor. He played well last year. If we lose him, we can probably find a guy of his caliber to replace him, but I'd rather just keep him and avoid the learning curve.

Craig Robertson, OLB. Robertson was another guy who made a lot of improvements last year, but I'd still like to see this position upgraded. Dansby at ILB will help make up for any lack of talent at OLB, but we still need some more guys there. Right now, Kruger and Mingo are the best guys we have on the outside. Kruger will stay a starter, but Mingo is still improving and may only become a situational defender. Upgrading this position will do a lot for the Browns to keep their top-rated defense.

Andre Smith, TE. He's third on the depth chart of TE's who most think don't have one who's a legitimate starter. He probably won't be here much longer and that's okay. We'll need that roster spot to get a quality starter on the team.

Tyler Thigpen, QB. Probably not staying, either, with the signings of McCown and Lewis. He didn't do much to win a starting job against Hoyer, Manziel, or Shaw last year. Seeing as how Manziel and Shaw are still there with McCown replacing Hoyer and adding Lewis, there's not enough room to keep another QB. In fact, it's more likely that Shaw ends up on a different team next year, especially if Cleveland wants to draft a QB this year.


I like Farmer, and I still think he's the man for the job. He's made mistakes, but I'll cut him some slack. I have confidence that he'll do a good job. I also like Pettine. To be fair, this year has been harder in a lot of ways to grab free agents, something Cleveland has never been great at doing anyway. The number one reason is they don't have a starting QB they can point to and say he's our guy and he's a great QB. We need to find that guy because he's not on the roster. McCown is a good fill-in, but we need to get a young, franchise QB. The Browns did go 7-4, but we've lost Jordan Cameron, we've lost Josh Gordon for at least the year, and now we've lost some guys on defense. 

We can still fill some of these holes with the draft. The three most important parts of a football team in my humble opinion are (1) Quarterback, (2) Offensive line, and (3) Defensive line. We have 2 and 3. I love our O-line with Joe Thomas (best left tackle and O-lineman in the NFL), Alex Mack (arguably best center, definitely top five), and Joel Bitonio. The right side can use some help but it's not horrible. Our D-line lost some pieces but we still have some really good players, and we'll probably take a guy in the first three rounds of the draft here. Keep your head up, Browns fans, we still have a lot of the pieces necessary to be a great, not just good, football team. We're just missing arguably the most important one, and if McCown can fill that role, at least temporarily, we'll have a good shot at taking the division.