Cleveland Browns: New Regime, Same Old Team
By Nate Ellis
Man In The Middle And Key WR Are Gone
The “Rabbit” had his best career year in Cleveland this past season. Obviously, he was in a different offensive scheme under former offensive coordinator John DeFilippio. Yet, Benjamin was still a nice complementary piece that still had plenty of upside.
Benjamin would have fit nicely in Hue Jackson’s vertical scheme, while helping to stretch the field and opposing defenses. I was not as high on Benjamin as the other free agents, but seeing him back on a fair deal would have been great. With the rumors of Jackson’s connection to wide receivers Marvin Jones and Mohamed Sanu prior to their signings, I figured it would be okay to let Benjamin walk, knowing the potential of Jones or Sanu coming to Cleveland.
Well, Jones quickly agreed to a contract with the Detroit Lions. Sanu then agreed to contract with the Atlanta Falcons. This just left Benjamin on the board, but the Cleveland Browns failed to bring him back on fair contract. Benjamin signed a deal with the San Diego Chargers instead. The deal (4yr/$24 mil.) was by far a marketable deal for a decent price.
At this point, I was not too concerned about the loss of just one guy. Benjamin was a good player, but he can be replaced in the draft or with a tier two free agent.
It was no secret that Mack was excited to hit the open market for the first time in his career. Mack certainly had not dismissed returning to the Cleveland Browns, but he was still expected to hear from other teams. After some back and fourth with Cleveland and the Falcons, Mack opted to reunite with former offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan on a contract worth $45 million over the next five years.
I can understand the non-willingness to give an aging center that big of a contract. That move is almost defensible. Mack, 30, is coming off one of his poorest performance year and to the Cleveland Browns, he may not have been worth that type of money.
Mack is certainly still a solid center, but perhaps the Browns did not see him in their future plans and opted not to give him the big money. Speaking of big money, that is where things get weird.
See, the Cleveland Browns did offer Mack a big contract — a contract even bigger than Atlanta’s 5yr/$45 million contract. According to Peter King of the Monday Morning Quarterback, the Browns offered Mack a contract valued at the $10 mil. per year range.
So, not only did Cleveland lose Mack, but they also lost him to a team offering less money. This is more of an indictment on the front office and perhaps the draw of playing with a half decent quarterback in Atlanta.
Alright, the Cleveland Browns are for 0/2 at this point. They will pull something off at this point, right? At least they can focus on the other guys now.
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