Every year, Browns’ fans wait for the legal tampering period and beginning of the new league year to see if their football team will make a big splash in free agency. This year, those people were probably underwhelmed.
What GM Andrew Berry did this year was mostly under the heading of keeping the band together. The biggest move was keeping DE Za’Darius Smith, who was second to Myles Garrett in sacks last year for Cleveland at 5.5.
The Browns also kept DT Maurice Hurst and Shelby Harris, two key members of last year’s top ranked defense.
In terms of bringing in outside help, it was more like a plop in the bathtub than a big splash.
Before the period started, Berry traded two low draft picks to Denver for former first round pick Jerry Jeudy, who is more name than productive to date. He had a reputation in Denver for being a guy who was more proud of his draft status than having a willingness to work.
His high in yardage in his four years with the Broncos was 972 in 2022.
Look, it’s not a bad trade because giving up a 5th and 6th round pick for decent wide receiver isn’t a high price, but expectations that Jeudy will be a big threat for Deshaun Watson at this point are likely unfounded.
Jordan Elliott went to San Francisco in free agency, so the Browns signed Quinton Jefferson, who was with the Jets last season to fill that gap. As of right now, Jefferson is the likely starter with a career high six sacks last season. However, this is his fifth team in the last five years, so he would be considered a journeyman.
That doesn’t mean he isn’t productive, or can’t help.
Cleveland lost linebackers Sione Takitaki and Anthony Walker and replaced them with Jordan Hicks, who started 13 games for Minnesota last season (he’s 32-years-old) and former Steelers’ first round pick Devin Bush.
Probably the signing that received the most scrutiny though was bringing in QB Jameis Winston to back up Watson. Winston, a former Heisman Trophy winner and first overall draft pick, will replace the popular Joe Flacco as the top reserve.
Many people who cover the Browns have noted the team seemed to want to move on from Flacco because of his popularity with the fan base and quite frankly, the lack of that for Watson.
Winston isn’t a bad choice to be the backup though. He has started 80 games in his NFL career, and in 2019, threw for over 5000 yards and 33 touchdowns. Unfortunately, he also led the league with 30 interceptions, and has been prone to that in his pro career.
But in New Orleans, where he spent the last four seasons, he started 10 games and fired 20 TD passes against just 11 interceptions. Still, his INT rate didn’t drop drastically.
It is difficult to see where the Browns are a better football team than they were at the end of the 2023 season. Even though this time of the year gets a lot of press, there is still plenty of time before training camp starts at the end of July.
And don’t forget there is a little thing at the end of April called the NFL Draft, where moves can be made and of course, you can draft players out of college.
We also doubt Berry is done manipulating the salary cap either, so some “big splash” moves could still be made.
Also, remember, the Browns are already a good football team. They did win 11 games last season.
The most interesting move is hiring former Titans coach and Walsh Jesuit grad Mike Vrabel as a consultant. To us, you can never have enough smart football guys in an organization and Vrabel has shown to be one of the best coaches in the NFL.
Cleveland Sports Perspective 