Recapping Day Two, Previewing Day Three of Browns Free Agency
As the Cleveland Browns get prepared for the official start of the league year and an end of the legal tampering period, they have addressed their need for a third safety and added one of the two defensive ends this team needs. The Browns still have a number of positions that need additional talent, but there have only been a few signings that might have been moves this team should have considered.
Coming into free agency, boundary corner stood out as a position that would be the most difficult to simply sign. The Browns made a pitch for Shaquil Griffin, but the deal he got from the Jacksonville Jaguars was far more than the Browns were likely to consider.
To their credit, the Jaguars did exactly what a team with a ton of cap space should do. Use it like a massive club, offering guaranteed money up front, $29 million over three years, that teams that need to be more concerned with cost like the Browns can't hope to match. It's difficult to turn down, especially when Griffin is from Florida.
The Cincinnati Bengals were able to land what could be a really nice value in Chidobe Awuzie. Maybe that's a route the Browns should have seriously considered. He's signing a three-year deal worth $21.75 million and is getting just $4.25 million the first year; the same amount Takkarist McKinley will get his first year. That price range seems ideal for what the Browns need right now.
The Browns may be more focused on adding man coverage capable corners to maximize Denzel Ward and Greedy Williams, which would be prudent.
Speaking of McKinley, he feels both like a value and an overpay at the same time. On one hand, there were projections he might get as much as $9 million per season. It's not a surprise he didn't get that much, but it was far more fun when McKinley was getting $4 million as opposed to a maximum of $6 million.
Nevertheless, it doesn't prevent the Browns from adding another free agent pass rusher. And with players like Carlos Dunlap and Melvin Ingram still available, having McKinley in the mix makes them more attractive. They are both in their 30s and while they have sustained high level play, there's a comfort in having a capable rotation as to avoid burning them out in the regular season.
The deals that players like Trey Hendrickson and Carl Lawson received could be great for their respective teams, but they look like bad contracts before they were signed for the Browns. Going into this process, $13 million seemed like the magic number for the Browns at defensive end. That's taking the money Olivier Vernon had been making and they'd be simply applying it to the replacement.
Both Lawson and Hendrickson received deals averaging $15 million per year. It would have been extremely difficult for either to live up to that deal based on what they've done thus far for their career. The New York Jets and Cincinnati Bengals can afford to make those bets. The Browns can't.
All of these contracts only highlight just how incredible the deal was the Browns got with safety John Johnson.
Maybe some additional help will come in the form of cuts, but the options at nose in free agency are becoming somewhat limited. Urban Meyer and the Jaguars are hoarding this position too, signing Tyson Alualu to a two-year, $6 million deal and then trading for Malcom Brown from the New Orleans Saints.
Alualu seemed perfect for what the Browns need to pair with Andrew Billings. He's been great for the Pittsburgh Steelers for the past four years and the price was right. It also avoids having to rely on a really weak draft class at that position.
DaQuan Jones could be a fit for that role, but he's good enough to start elsewhere. And his price tag could be higher. Still, he's a massive nose like Billings who can eat up blocks and help shut down the run.
Two other options are familiar names; Danny Shelton and Larry Ogunjobi. Shelton was released by the Detroit Lions with a failed physical, so that's its own question. Shelton was really effective in 2019, but like everything else with the Lions was not good in 2020. In a rotation with Billings, so long as he's healthy, he'd be a good pickup.
Ogunjobi is more suited to play the three, but he's fantastic when singled up on a center. It's not a huge surprise that a big market has not materialized for him and he may opt to come back for a one-year deal with the Browns, both out of familiarity and a lack of options.
The good news with Ogunjobi is that he's significantly more effective when he's not asked to be the featured nose. He wasn't supposed to be in 2020, but when Billings opted out, the Browns were stuck. With his ability to shoot gaps and rush the passer, he could be a really nice pairing with Billings.
Slot corner is another position poised to move. Mike Hilton signed with the Bengals at an average of $6 million per year for four years. Desmond King, Brian Poole and Troy Hill seem like preferable options, but they might be able to get bigger offers than Hilton did. Hill could follow teammate John Johnson over to the Browns.
Corn Elder might be a more cost effective choice. He is coming off a promising season with the Carolina Panthers and could compete for the starting job.
Former Browns slot corner K'Waun Williams is an option, though he did not leave the organization on great circumstances.
The issue revolves around an ankle injury he had in 2016. He didn't want to play in a preseason game on it and ultimately refused. The Browns suspended him for two games as a result and waived him. The organization says he told them he was retiring. Williams had ankle surgery and missed the entire season.
Williams has since had three productive seasons with the San Francisco 49ers.
It remains to be seen how active the Browns are going to be on the wide receiver front on free agency, but it's a slow moving market. Basically, receivers are finding the market isn't what they hoped it would be on two fronts.
First, some of the top guys were hoping for more money than they are being offered on long term deals or still lucrative one-year deals that would enable them to hit the market again ahead of 2022. And while it feels slow, free agency is only officially about to begin, so there's no rush.
Still, for second and third tier receivers, unless a team comes to them with a deal they're excited about, their markets won't be fully formed until the top players get signed and a larger focus is put on them, which includes Browns free agent Rashard Higgins. As a result, it's too early to draw any meaningful conclusions about how teams will value Higgins as a potential free agent option.
Breshad Perriman, often linked to the Browns, is still available. He's likely in a similar circumstance as Higgins. The Browns have given Higgins their offer and may have done the same with Perriman. The receivers want to have other offers for comparison before making a decision.
John Brown has agreed to a one-year deal with the Las Vegas Raiders for a base salary of $3.75 million that could be worth as much as $5.5 million. That could be a good neighborhood to be in as it relates to a potential Perriman deal.
