Browns Free Agency 2015

[Stitches]

Wallace is a big time malcontent, but I'm surprised how many people leave Bill Lazor's offense just horribly bitter.

Free agency is a tool among many tools. It isn't the most efficient or important tool, but ignoring it is also short-sighted. It's like you hate having a nice screwdriver set because you prefer spending money on a nice drill. Well, okay... but you are going to eventually need them all.

Two?

 

[Randolphkeys]

Two?

Gotta include his strained relationships with Philly players before leaving under Kelly. In researching the back story on Nick Foles the pattern seemed to be consistent.

 

[Stitches]

Gotta include his strained relationships with Philly players before leaving under Kelly. In researching the back story on Nick Foles the pattern seemed to be consistent.

It wasn't his offense in Philly, he was just QB coach.

 

[Randolphkeys]

It wasn't his offense in Philly, he was just QB coach.

The guy gets results, but Foles had issues with him, then Hartline and Wallace. I like watching the results he gets, but there's a pattern.

 

[Damage]

That is starter money, at least in the first year. He can play NT and 3-4 DE, but wow, never thought he would command that type of cash coming off a knee injury and disappointing year. I guess they saw him having a big year this season and commanding a lot more next season. If you aren't suing the cap on free agents, use it this year to lock down core guys.

That's rotational DL $ for a good-very good 2-down run stopping DT in a run-heavy division.

People want to ask where is the money going to be spent? This is a good example and a good signing.

 

[godfather]

Saints felt the need to pay for the 3rd rounder which is good value nowadays man. Lets not forget Stills was a 5th rounder so what do they really lose?

You're just embarrassing yourself.

 

[Damage]

To me going from Austin to Hartline at this point is a lateral move. He's not a game breaker and is just another "solid" guy like Austin was.

Mike Wallace to me brings a dimension the Browns could really desperately use. His contract is largely irrelevant since we aren't using the cap space anyway and have more than we can even spend available.

We also had the 32nd ranked run defense in the league last year and a weak pass rush, so to see we are essentially only doing the lateral move, resign our own guy stuff on that side of the ball (the line specifically) is disappointing.

There were alot of good D-lineman not named Suh available this off-season and getting one of the better ones combined with a hit on a first rounder totally improves this defense. Now we are left with the Big Lots leftovers to parse through on a unit that desperately needed help.

Lateral move? Miles may retire. I'd rather have b00bie on the field than someone who isn't employed by the NFL.

Let's not pretend Hartline is someone's trash we just picked up one our way to goodwill. For a guy who almost died, he came back and put up 2 1000 yard seasons. He was phased out this year due to the emergence of Lamar Miller, Jarvis Landry, the inline/joker TE duo (Clay and Sims) and a spread offense that passed the ball around a ton (8 players had 21 receptions or more - Browns had 5). He's 2.5 years younger than Miles and 2 hamstrings better.

I thought Miles did an very good job last year being a chain mover. And I expect Hartline to be much, much better.

 

[Damage]

It's really, really frustrating as a Browns fan to see them making lateral moves at absolute best when they haven't fielded a winning team in a very long time. This team has a very good defense and is the type of team that could finally get over the hump if they got an actual, immediate infusion of talent. Instead, they expect fans to get excited about Brian Hartline, Josh McCown, and Thad Lewis.

Forgive them for not getting overly excited that they brought back their punter.

It's the same old thing each and every year, and it doesn't look like it's going to be changing anytime soon. Welcome to Cleveland, where the football team has been rebuilding since 1999.

And this isn't to say that I'm against them building through the draft. They've proven to have a pretty decent track record in recent years in the later rounds of the draft at picking guys up. Just a perceived lack of any type of urgency out of this organization, but then again, who really knows what goes on behind closed doors.

Let's pretend I am your sales director and we are a young software firm. I go to you and say, "Marcus, I'm going to give you $25,000 and you can spend it however you want. It must be sales oriented. I want a report of areas and assets you want to spend your money on. Go."

Would you spend that entire sum marketing, advertising, chasing 1 client? Or would you invest in sales tools, smart, viral marketing (cheap), and target clients that are 1. attainable and 2. a good return on investment?

As you know, it takes 2 sides to get a deal done. Don't conflate being stonewalled with shirking. One of the golden rules of sales is there are only so many ways you can chase a prospect before you burn yourself.

Who would you have liked for them to target? Suh? Revis? Bradford?

 

[Seiklis]

Some twitter rumors floating about that Dwayne Bowe is coming to town tomorrow, have been a number of reports linking him to the Browns after his release from the Chiefs

Edit: Might be a bit of smoke to it so I'll run with it for now


Though if Lane is to be believed (getting questionable) this is Farmer not caring what Pettine thinks on a signing as Bowe is not a Pettine kind of player

 

[Birdy89]

Some twitter rumors floating about that Dwayne Bowe is coming to town tomorrow, have been a number of reports linking him to the Browns after his release from the Chiefs

He can't get in the end zone, so he definitely plays like a Brown.

I think he might be done. He turns 31 in September and looks like he peaked 3-4 years ago.

I would rather draft a WR in the 1st round who has some real upside at this point.

 

[Marcus]

Let's pretend I am your sales director and we are a young software firm. I go to you and say, "Marcus, I'm going to give you $25,000 and you can spend it however you want. It must be sales oriented. I want a report of areas and assets you want to spend your money on. Go."

Would you spend that entire sum marketing, advertising, chasing 1 client? Or would you invest in sales tools, smart, viral marketing (cheap), and target clients that are 1. attainable and 2. a good return on investment?

As you know, it takes 2 sides to get a deal done. Don't conflate being stonewalled with shirking. One of the golden rules of sales is there are only so many ways you can chase a prospect before you burn yourself.

Who would you have liked for them to target? Suh? Revis? Bradford?

No, no... players like that are a pipe dream at best. Suh was always a pipe dream. I never once thought that he was a realistic possibility and I feel sorry for anyone that did. Given Revis' injury history and age (I know he had a great year last year for New England, but still), I wouldn't want to tie up that much money in him. Same with Bradford on the trade front regarding injury.

It honestly just feels like the Browns have been super quiet this free agency period. I wouldn't have even been terribly upset if they had had a similar free agency period as the last offseason, because they made some legitimately good signings then, but on the heels of Jimmy Haslam flat out saying they weren't going to be big players in free agency, it's been disappointing to watch other teams make moves while the Browns do little to improve on a roster that finally didn't lose 10+ games for the first time in almost a decade. The draft is obviously the biggest asset when it comes to building a team, but that doesn't mean that you should neglect free agency altogether when you're looking to fill holes and upgrade talent.

There are still some of those lower tier guys available, and it's entirely possible that the Browns did make a run at some of these higher profile players and we just didn't hear about it, but I doubt it. I just think they're in a position now where I wish they would be a little bit more active in the market because it's beginning to feel like they're finally a fringe playoff team with the defense that they have.

To answer your other question, though:

- The QB market is just flat out terrible this year. We all knew that coming in. Whether they brought Hoyer back or not, there wasn't any way they were going to solve this franchise's problem under center through free agency this year, and teams rarely do it that way anyway.

- I liked the Brian Hartline signing, but I think they could still use another receiver. Luckily, this is supposed to be a deep draft at that position, so I can live with them not trying too much harder in free agency in that regard. Supposedly they are interested in Dwayne Bowe; I wouldn't mind him on a short term deal.

- All of a sudden the Browns find themselves looking for a pass catching tight end since they couldn't come to terms with Jordan Cameron.

- I think Nick Fairley is going to turn out to be a good pickup for the Rams if he stays past this year. I know he's had trouble in the past, but he seemed to finally be getting his head on straight and he was having a pretty solid year until he got hurt.

Just feels like the Browns are once again stuck in the mud while the rest of the league passes them by, and it's disappointing to see. Maybe that will change once the draft, free agency, trades, etc. pass by and we see how the final roster is put together. They were never realistically going to be able to fill their biggest hole, quarterback, but I don't think it's unreasonable to expect some of the other ones to get filled.

 

[Otsego Mar]

Got to wonder how long this trolling is going to continue.

Started in 1999.....may continue on until WWIII kills us all.

 

[Real Deal]

You're just embarrassing yourself.

Kind of like you wondering if LeBron should retire.

 

[Damage]

No, no... players like that are a pipe dream at best. Suh was always a pipe dream. I never once thought that he was a realistic possibility and I feel sorry for anyone that did. Given Revis' injury history and age (I know he had a great year last year for New England, but still), I wouldn't want to tie up that much money in him. Same with Bradford on the trade front regarding injury.

It honestly just feels like the Browns have been super quiet this free agency period. I wouldn't have even been terribly upset if they had had a similar free agency period as the last offseason, because they made some legitimately good signings then, but on the heels of Jimmy Haslam flat out saying they weren't going to be big players in free agency, it's been disappointing to watch other teams make moves while the Browns do little to improve on a roster that finally didn't lose 10+ games for the first time in almost a decade. The draft is obviously the biggest asset when it comes to building a team, but that doesn't mean that you should neglect free agency altogether when you're looking to fill holes and upgrade talent.

There are still some of those lower tier guys available, and it's entirely possible that the Browns did make a run at some of these higher profile players and we just didn't hear about it, but I doubt it. I just think they're in a position now where I wish they would be a little bit more active in the market because it's beginning to feel like they're finally a fringe playoff team with the defense that they have.

To answer your other question, though:

- The QB market is just flat out terrible this year. We all knew that coming in. Whether they brought Hoyer back or not, there wasn't any way they were going to solve this franchise's problem under center through free agency this year, and teams rarely do it that way anyway.

- I liked the Brian Hartline signing, but I think they could still use another receiver. Luckily, this is supposed to be a deep draft at that position, so I can live with them not trying too much harder in free agency in that regard. Supposedly they are interested in Dwayne Bowe; I wouldn't mind him on a short term deal.

- All of a sudden the Browns find themselves looking for a pass catching tight end since they couldn't come to terms with Jordan Cameron.

- I think Nick Fairley is going to turn out to be a good pickup for the Rams if he stays past this year. I know he's had trouble in the past, but he seemed to finally be getting his head on straight and he was having a pretty solid year until he got hurt.

Just feels like the Browns are once again stuck in the mud while the rest of the league passes them by, and it's disappointing to see. Maybe that will change once the draft, free agency, trades, etc. pass by and we see how the final roster is put together. They were never realistically going to be able to fill their biggest hole, quarterback, but I don't think it's unreasonable to expect some of the other ones to get filled.

Good post. A rational response with a dash of emotion. Why can't most posters respond like this?

QB market is the QB market. McCown is to Hoyer what beige wallpaper is to greige wallpaper. The big difference between the 2 is Hoyer doesn't know who he is - McCown does.

Hartline was a great signing and I'd much rather pay him 2/6 than what Maclin got. As we saw last year when the Browns were clicking, unless they're elite, WR's are reliant on the QBs and the play design. And the last time a top tier WR led a team to a Super Bowl will be the first.

Pettine wanted Flip last year - he was force-fed Shanny. It was good, until it wasn't. I honestly think Flip is going to surprise a lot of people this year.

Yes, we need another WR. I addressed this in an earlier post but the trio of Hawk/Hartline/Gabriel as slots-possession guys is as good of a trio as their is in the NFL. Need a go to guy for sure, and unless it's Kevin White they should wait until round 2-3 to get one.

Outside of White, I think Funchees has all-world potential. Justin Hardy from ECU and Nelson Agholar from USC are 2 names to keep an eye on (been hearing Hardy's name for a bit now)

Pass catching TE's are being phased out. They're great to have, but they're aren't many teams that incorporate dual TE threats. There are a ton of joker TE's - there's a reason for this.

As for Fairley, not going after a DT and re-signing one of their own, I have to think, is by design. One, Hughes is a very good 2 down lineman and is homegrown. Two, they're going to draft a DT in round 1 or 2. Taylor, Hughes, Draft Pick is a pretty solid rotation. Add Fairley to that mix and you're using cap room on a room on a rotational DT who happens to be a malcontent. The Lions just lost Suh - you'd think they'd want to retain Fairley but they didn't even put up a fight.

League isn't passing them by. They're being calculative with their spending habits and banking on grooming their own talent to re-sign. This is what smart teams do. Conversely,they're stuck in the mud because they don't have a QB and they have an owner who's a lunatic.

 

[Randolphkeys]

Good post. A rational response with a dash of emotion. Why can't most posters respond like this?

QB market is the QB market. McCown is to Hoyer what beige wallpaper is to greige wallpaper. The big difference between the 2 is Hoyer doesn't know who he is - McCown does.

Hartline was a great signing and I'd much rather pay him 2/6 than what Maclin got. As we saw last year when the Browns were clicking, unless they're elite, WR's are reliant on the QBs and the play design. And the last time a top tier WR led a team to a Super Bowl will be the first.

Pettine wanted Flip last year - he was force-fed Shanny. It was good, until it wasn't. I honestly think Flip is going to surprise a lot of people this year.

Yes, we need another WR. I addressed this in an earlier post but the trio of Hawk/Hartline/Gabriel as slots-possession guys is as good of a trio as their is in the NFL. Need a go to guy for sure, and unless it's Kevin White they should wait until round 2-3 to get one.

Outside of White, I think Funchees has all-world potential. Justin Hardy from ECU and Nelson Agholar from USC are 2 names to keep an eye on (been hearing Hardy's name for a bit now)

Pass catching TE's are being phased out. They're great to have, but they're aren't many teams that incorporate dual TE threats. There are a ton of joker TE's - there's a reason for this.

As for Fairley, not going after a DT and re-signing one of their own, I have to think, is by design. One, Hughes is a very good 2 down lineman and is homegrown. Two, they're going to draft a DT in round 1 or 2. Taylor, Hughes, Draft Pick is a pretty solid rotation. Add Fairley to that mix and you're using cap room on a room on a rotational DT who happens to be a malcontent. The Lions just lost Suh - you'd think they'd want to retain Fairley but they didn't even put up a fight.

League isn't passing them by. They're being calculative with their spending habits and banking on grooming their own talent to re-sign. This is what smart teams do. Conversely,they're stuck in the mud because they don't have a QB and they have an owner who's a lunatic.

Wrong.