Previous Cleveland Browns' regimes (that is to say people who have nothing whatsoever to do with the people in charge today) mismanaged free agency.
A chronic issue with the new Browns is the fact that their lack of success, and of a franchise quarterback, makes the best veteran free agents reluctant to sign here.
What the other guys (who are gone now) did too often was to sign former star players who were clearly past their primes. Usually, the team and pundits said things like "Well yes, he's 34 years old and has been injured a lot, but he had a pretty good year last year."
1: As the human body ages and the knees and ankles are subjected to extreme high impacts, the joints erode and cartilage tears loose.
2: The body heals from these and other injuries at a slower rate. This is why older players miss more playing time...duh.
3: Any player who had a decent year last season (not as good as in previous seasons, by the way) will return one year older.
He WILL be slower. He WILL NOT be as quick, or as durable, and he is DECLINING.
Now, the Browns are not contenders. It sometimes makes sense for a contender to "rent" some older veterans who can still play for one season, as they could make the difference in the playoffs.
It makes ZERO sense for the Browns, who are trying to build themselves into a contender.
Here's what happens when you sign, say, a Reggie Wayne:
To the amazement of many, he seems to have more trouble getting separation for some strange reason. Still, he catches 4 passes for 45 yards, then Lordy 5 for 60, then he...gets hurt. He's day-to-day and...
Yeah but he's great in the meeting rooms, mentoring the younger recievers. Teaching them how to run correct routes and look the ball into their hands and rocket science like that so...
Except for that guy that's starting for the Vikings now, who got stolen from the practice squad when Ray had to make room for this big-name veteran and this really fast shrimp veteran.
And oh, puh-leez just stop it with the vedderrrunn running back crap! A running back isn't a cornerback, quarterback, or passrusher! Where do you get this running back is rocket science stuff? It's NOT THE SAME THING.
About all a veteran running back can teach a young running back is...uhh...well not a damn thing so STOP IT.
No! See, you build a team with younger players under longer-term contracts. You keep the most talented and promising players and allow them to grow into a (hopefully for once) stable system.
If you sign a veteran free agent, you pay the price to get one in his prime, and keep him around for awhile.
If Cecil Shorts isn't better than your worst wide reciever, you don't sign him either. Especially not when Shorts is another little guy just like them, and the real need is for bigger, taller guys (Like Charles Johnson. Remember him? You will shortly, dammit).
By the way, I would have released Travis Benjamin and kept Johnson active. But what do I know?
In this article by Joe Gilbert on waitingfornextyear.com, Joe goes over some of the "realistic" Browns free agent targets at various positions. He brings up several guys that I hadn't considered.
I encourage you to read the article itself, as it's thoughtful and well-researched. In general, Joe gets it: Most of his players are in their primes or ascending, but for depth chart and scheme reasons haven't had a lot of opportunities (yet).
Except he thinks Cecil Shorts would be better than somebody on the current roster, which kind of stuns me.
I can't say this enough: This team is likely to field three tight ends and three running backs. The base offense is hard to define, but it looks like a lot of two-tight end and possibly two-back sets.
This probably means that FIVE wide recievers will be kept active. Everybody has these ideas about who the Browns should sign, but nobody is talking about who would get cut.
To me, Travis Benjamin is low man on this totem pole. He is better than Cecil Shorts. So why would you sign Cecil Shorts? Why why why?
Here is another decent article by Zack Jackson on Foxsportsohio.com. Zack isn't trying to be conservative like Joe, and lists guys like Torrey Smith and Randall Cobb.
I'm a little more with Zack myself. Despite what Jimmy Haslam said, and despite wide recievers' understandable reluctance to come to a (so far) Josh McCown-led offense, the Browns have the MONEY to compete with anybody in a bidding war.
Still, Cobb might be too much to hope for, and Smith is kind of doubtful. Both players would be great additions, however.
In this article, he mentions "Name to Know" at the end of each position, and here he reminded me of Micheal Bowie, the guard/tackle from the Seahawks.
Thanks, Zack! I'd fallen into the trap of ignoring talented, promising players already on the roster in the free agent/draft frenzy.
Yes, Micheal Bowie has at least a 50/50 chance of displacing either Mitchell Schwartze or John Greco as a starter. He is young and improving (look those two words up, by the way) and was a starter for a Superbowl winning team.
(I'd still love to get Mike Lupati, though).
On the draft, this article by Jared Mueller of Fansided.com came out of left field, and certainly out-of-the-box.
Jared talks about The Browns possibly trading DOWN in this draft!
Stop that! It's Jared Mueller, not Rhona LaCanfora, so you need to hear this out, dammit.
The idea is to build up more ammo for the next draft in order to make a move on a stud quarterback.
If the Browns don't land one this season, and Manziel doesn't pan out, where are they then? It's a talented team, and even with McCown at the helm it could once again finish at around the middle of the first round.
Mueller didn't go into any detail, but there are a lot of ways this could be done--most of it convoluted.
Personally, I don't see it with number twelve as their highest pick. Any team willing to surrender future first and second rounders would have to be so low in the first round that they're top contenders, and those picks are libel to be low again next season.
Now that Chip Kelly has traded LeShaun McCoy, Pat Kirwan's hypothetical trade to move to number four for Marcus Mariota isn't there any more.
In lieu of McCoy, is it now going to be next year's second and third rounders as well? At some point, Chip has to give up, since of all the teams being talked about as Mariota suitors, the Browns have the most ammunition...or...
make a deal with the Browns by trading Nick Foles to them for number nineteen, then using that to trade up for Mariota.
Either Foles or Mariota in brown and orange this spring is more likely than any trade down. I think Jared Mueller gave up too early.
Ray Farmer really can't pussy-foot around here, and the very fact that he signed McCown instead of Hoyer signals his intentions to at least try to make some move here and now.
Foles is still young and comaratively inexperienced, and would benefit from McCown's guidance as a starter. Mariota has a lot to prove at the pro level, and would more likely not start immediately.
Manziel is really just the joker in this deck, and we'll all just have to see how he plays out. However, there is NO WAY that Ray is staking his career on this kid (and without an immediate move of some sort, this is what he'd be doing.)
Anyway, to summarize the main point of this article, say no to overpriced geezer rentafreeagents, and no guts, no glory Ray.
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