Cleveland Browns: 5 mid-tier free agents that could improve the team

After looking at the major free agents available, it’s time to look at more affordable names the Cleveland Browns could bring in.

The Browns will have a hard enough time bringing back their own free agents, let alone acquiring the biggest names available at every position of need. So instead of having pipe dreams of getting the A.J. Green’s, Jadeveon Clowney’s and Blake Martinez‘ of the world and think about some more affordable options.

The Browns have a lot of holes that need to be addressed and you just can’t assume that you can throw large amounts of money to fix things. A combination of smart investing into less expensive free agents, one or two major ones and a complete draft would shore up most of the team’s needs. In order to achieve that however, they can’t miss on free-agent acquisitions.

The names on this list might not be ideal starters or even regular starters, but they can help shore up the depth issues in some key groups. A few of them would need to be relied on however, positions like the defensive line, or wide receiver need depth. Even more, like the secondary, may need to fill in for a year or two before the right guy can be found, developed and implemented.

So in order to give some of the later rounds picks time to develop, you’ll need to go get a backup or two and give them a starter’s role. The team shouldn’t be afraid to take a risk on an unknown quantity, especially if there’s a relationship between them and new head coach Kevin Stefanski. The goal is to not break the bank while collecting upgrades, that way more money can be allocated to getting a difference-maker that could help the Browns finally get to the playoffs. After all, that’s the real goal, not to rebuild, but to finish the build. These are the five (six) players who can help fill out the roster without maxing out the cap space.