The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Playmaking QB could be selling point
Free agents can begin talks on March 13
Romeo Crennel is the only coach the Browns have had since 1999 to last four seasons before being fired. Kevin Stefanski will match Crennel if he makes it through 2023, but General Manager Andrew Berry will need a very successful free agency period and draft for Stefanski to get a record-setting fifth season.
Teams can start negotiating with free agents on March 13 and sign them starting at 4 p.m. March 15 when the new league year begins. The Browns need at least one defensive tackle, a wide receiver, a free safety and an edge rusher. They could also use an inside linebacker; Anthony Walker (quadriceps tendon tear) and Sione Takitaki (torn ACL) suffered major injuries last season and both are unrestricted free agents. Lower on the priority list is a backup quarterback and maybe a running back since Kareem Hunt and D’Ernest Johnson are free agents.
Berry has to take care of some bookkeeping before he can start signing players because the Browns are $13.5 million over the $224.8 million salary cap. Deshaun Watson has a cap hit of nearly $55 million.
Berry and Watson’s agents anticipated this situation when the Browns signed Watson to the unprecedented five-year, $230 million contract in March of last year after acquiring Watson in a trade with the Texans. Watson’s contract will be reconstructed to move most of his 2023 salary of $46 million into a signing bonus, which, for salary cap purposes, will stretch out over the next four years.
Defensive end Myles Garrett has a cap hit of $29,176,000. Wide receiver Amari Cooper’s cap hit is $23,776,000. Those three players combined, without restructuring, account for 42.87% of the Browns’ total salary cap.
Watson did not play well while starting the final six games in 2022 after returning from his 11game exile for violating the NFL personal conduct policy. The assumption is his play in 2023 will more closely resemble the way he played for the Texans in 2020 when he passed for 4,823 yards while throwing 33 touchdown passes and only seven interceptions. No more rust, a
full offseason with the Browns, an offense designed around Watson — we’ll have to wait and see.
Free agents want as much money as they can get, naturally, but they also want to play on a team with a winning quarterback. That makes Watson a selling point for Berry trying to persuade players to sign with the Browns even if they might get a bigger contract with another team.
Last week in this space I pounded the table for defensive tackle Javon Hargrove of the Eagles. Hargrove, 30, remains my top prize among free agents. He had 11 of the Eagles’ 70 regular-season sacks in 2022. Browns’ defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz was Philadelphia’s defensive coordinator in 2020 — Hargrove’s first year with the Eagles, so Hargrove already knows Schwartz’ system.
Schwartz and Watson could both make Cleveland attractive to Hargrove if the money is right. The Browns do not have a first-round draft pick because they sent it to Houston in the Watson trade. But even if they did they could not find a player with the 12th pick as polished as Hargrove.
• Schwartz needs an edge rusher, too. Alex Wright backed up Jadeveon Clowney as a rookie last season. The coaches like Wright, but the thirdround pick from AlabamaBirmingham is a year away from being a fulltime starter. Of course,
most teams want to improve their pass rush with an edge rusher.
Yannick Ngakoue, 27, posted 9.5 sacks with the Colts last season and 10 with the Raiders in 2021. He has played for five teams in the last four seasons (the Vikings traded him to the Ravens midseason in 2020) and at 6-foot2, 246 pounds he is more of a rush linebacker than a 4-3 defensive end. He has 65 career sacks. Ngakoue has a reputation of being a liability against the run, and since run defense was a huge problem for the Browns last season, he seems an unlikely fit for Schwartz’ defense.
Samson Ebukam of the 49ers is a 245-pound edge rusher. He benefited from playing with Nick Bosa the last two seasons and would certainly benefit from playing with Myles Garrett if the Browns sign him.
Schwartz must have concluded John Johnson didn’t fit his defensive scheme, so the Browns released Johnson with one year left on his contract. Jessie Bates III of the Bengals is the top free safety among free agents. Jordan Poyer of the Bills, who played for the Browns from 2013-16, is 32 years old. He intercepted four passes in 12 games with the Bills last season. He missed five games with rib, knee and elbow injuries but did not require offseason surgery.
Chauncey GardnerJohnson of the Eagles and Jimmie Ward of the 49ers are also possibilities as a safety.
• The Browns were one of a dozen teams that attended Odell Beckham Jr’s private workout on March 10, according to Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports. Beckham missed all of 2022 recovering from a knee injury he sustained with the Rams in Super Bowl XVI.
Beckham played for the Browns from 2019 until he forced them to release him midway through 2021 because of a dispute with Baker Mayfield. Beckham is one of those players who might relish playing with Watson. But as desperate as the Browns are to upgrade their wide receivers, it is difficult to imagine them giving Beckham a redo. From a practical standpoint, he is often injured. And then there was that warning he issued Von Miller.
Beckham and Miller, a fearsome pass rusher, are friends. They worked out together in Colorado Springs in the 2021 offseason when Beckham was still with the Browns and Miller with the Broncos. They talked about some day playing together. Miller told Sports Illustrated Beckham told him “Don’t come to Cleveland.” That was months before Beckham whined his way out of Cleveland.
Parris Campbell is the burner the Browns need. He ran a 4.31 40-yard dash at the Scouting Combine in 2019. The Colts drafted him from Ohio State in the second round. He battled injuries early in his career and played in a total of 15 games from 2019-21. He played in all 17 games last season and caught 63 passes for 623 yards while scoring three touchdowns.
JuJu Smith-Schuster will be a free agent unless the Chiefs re-sign the 26-year-old former Steeler before the new league year begins. He would be a good fit opposite Cooper for the Browns. He caught 78 passes for 933 yards and three touchdowns last season.
I didn’t know that
… until I read my Snapple bottle cap.
The Wright Brothers first flight traveled less than 7 mph ground speed. … Flamingos turn pink from eating shrimp. … An avocado is actually a large berry. … Water can boil and freeze at the same time. … Despite its hump, a camel has a straight spine. … Dairy cows drink up to 50 gallons of water per day.