Cleveland Browns: 3 affordable free agents who could find a second life
By Chad Porto
The Cleveland Browns are a very young team after an off-season of turnover but every team could use some veteran experience to push the younger talent.
The Cleveland Browns have done a great job of getting younger and revamping their roster in order to get better on both sides of the ball. Yet, no side of the ball was more in disarray than the Cleveland Browns’ defense. While some people seem to think Joe Schobert was the problem, despite being seen by many in the NFL as a top linebacker, his loss will be felt. Mack Wilson is expected to move over to the middle but the team did add some other players who could help the linebacking corp.
The thing is, the team is going to be better against the run simply because they won’t play as many sets with three or four cornerbacks on first and second down. Meaning you’ll have more defensive linemen and more linebackers rotating in and out in order to stop the run, which the Browns were the third-worst team in the league at doing.
Yet, that doesn’t mean the defense is set, nor does it mean there can’t be some names brought in to see if they can provide some depth or even if they can push a young guy out of the way and earn a starting spot.
Every guy on this list is going to be older, affordable, and near the end of their career. They should not be viewed as a game-changer but as a talent pusher. People seem to forget that many third, fourth, and later-round picks don’t pan out, let alone become rookie-year starters. Shrieking about how good a mid-round pick will be is laughable.
We have no clue. Bringing in veterans to ensure there are spots filled is prudent. There is no guarantee here, but you can try and prepare for the unexpected.
So bring in some veterans to push the rookies, see who earns a starting spot, see who could be used in a specialty position, and then go play the games. The contracts will be cheap, one-year deals, so if a rookie or young players outperform the veteran, just cut the veteran. No harm, no foul. It doesn’t hurt to see what is still out there.