Cleveland Browns let Joe Schobert leave and create a huge hole by doing so

The Cleveland Browns won’t meet Joe Schobert’s $10+ million a year asking price and will instead seek to replace him with a cheaper option.

According to Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com, the Cleveland Browns and their GM Andrew Berry won’t meet Joe Schobert‘s market value of ‘double-digit millions’ and will instead let him walk. Schobert, one of the Browns better defensive players since being drafted by the team in 2016, lead the team in tackles two of his last three seasons and went to the Pro Bowl in 2017.

Schobert was integral to the defense for the past three years and became arguably the games best cover linebacker. According to Cabot that isn’t enough, however, to warrant just $10 million a year, and the team is instead going to focus their savings to improve the offensive line. Cabot also states that Oliver Vernon will more than likely be cut as well to make more room in the budget, with the future of Christian Kirksey hanging in the balance as well.

What the Browns have just done however is make another huge hole that they’ll have to fill going forward, and it may not be that easy to do. We’ve seen this done before with previous Browns regimes, who think they can just replace key defensive players. Players like Joe Hande, T. J. Ward and D’Qwell Jackson were all cut for ‘money-saving purposes’ but were replaced with older, more expensive and inferior talent.

It’s hard to not see this going the same way for the Browns. Berry has to prove that replacing Schobert was the right move and has to hit a home run in finding his replacement. Anything short of a Pro Bowl-caliber player filling his role in 2020 would be an absolute disaster. This team has enough holes to fill, adding more just doesn’t make any sense. Especially over a few million dollars.