The Cleveland Browns just drafted fourteen players, and signed twelve undrafted free agents. The veteran free agents they signed or acquired via trade include a starting safety, inside linebacker, cornerback, and quarterback. In all, there are thirty one to thirty three new players on this roster.
Naturally, a bunch of these guys won't make it to the final cut, but at least eighteen to twenty of them will, including most or all of the draft picks.
The veteran free agents aren't superstars, and all have some question marks or warts, but they've all started and played well in the NFL. It would be a stretch to call any of them below average.
After the free agent losses, and before the draft, rightly and wrongly, the "holes" on the extant roster were right tackle, tight end depth, wide receiver, quarterback, passrusher, and really not much else. I said, not much else.
Three or four players, including two former starters, will compete for right tackle. Four wide receivers and a tight end were drafted, and Pryor is a (literally) huge wild card. An undrafted tight end named Holtz will probably make the final roster. Nassib and Ogbah are two excellent passrushers, and Mingo returns at 255 lbs.
Two new safeties. Two new outside cornerbacks. FOUR new inside linebackers.
As many as TEN of these new players will start. Three to five more will be rotational/situational players.
Now, when I read Bill Barnwell's excellent and thorough analysis of the Browns' off season, near the end, he just had to go and spoil it:
Under "what's next?", Bill just had to say "considering all the remaining holes they have to fill--".
This is a conditioned reflex, you know? Because...well, what holes!?
This guy writes several paragraphs itemizing all these moves, and somehow none of it registered on his consciousness.
I want somebody to give me one position which hasn't been addressed.
Running back? Stop it. Quarterback? Well okay, you can doubt RG3 and Kessler, but McCown is still here...you can't describe quarterback as a hole.
Center? Okay question Erving, I can't blame you. But there are two other quality inside linemen who could play center, and it's not a "hole".
Right tackle? Most likely, the team takes a step back there, but they'll have a competent starter there by game one.
Did the loss of Gipson create a hole? NO. His replacements were already on the roster. Even if nobody plays as well as Gipson, they'll all certainly play well enough.
Where are these mysterious holes you keep mentioning? I can't see them.
There is still room for improvement, but phrases like "all the holes they still have to fill" are sounding dumber every day. It's a hollow, obsolete mantra. We say it or write it simply because we've been repeating it every year for a decade, and it has nothing to do with reality any more.
Think. Just think.
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