Just because a free agent signing was good on paper doesn’t mean it remains that way after the season ends, which is true for some of these Browns as well.
The Cleveland Browns made several big moves and a bunch of other ones in the 2020 offseason. It’s worth seeing who lived up to their contracts. Part of the reason to look at the crop of free agents is due to the goal of building a winner is to not only keep talent but also cap space. So deals that allow you to keep talent and movement under the cap are the most ideal.
So what all is being evaluated?
- How a player performed overall.
- How a player performed in relation to past accomplishments/current contract.
- How that contract looks for that player after one year.
It should be noted that contracts can look vastly different in subsequent years, what may be a good contract after one year could be an awful contract after year two. Same difference. For instance, Albert Haynesworth’s deal wasn’t bad after one year. After two, however, he was the biggest free-agent bust of all time. Each player on this list will not just be graded by their play, but by their contract and their expectations for the year. After all, these contracts are rewarded to players for their expected performances.
If a player plays well and is on a short term deal, that hurts the overall grade because the team will likely have to then over-pay to retain them once that deal has expired. If a player underperforms and is a long-term deal, then it’s a bad deal. If a player plays well and is on a long-term deal, they’re more likely to get a better grade. If a player is a long-term deal that’s also cheap, that’s the pinnacle.
Let’s get started.
TE Austin Hooper
Contract: 4 years/ $42 million
2020 Stats: 13 Gp, 70 targets, 46 receptions, 435 Yards, 4 TDs
Performance Grade: C+
Contract Grade: C
Austin Hooper came in expecting to be the guy at the position and be a Pro Bowl player for Baker Mayfield. Blame it on the lack of speed around him, the numerous tight ends vying for playing time, his injuries, or the run-first offense, but Hooper did not live up to his contract. Not when you realize that had Harrison Bryant had the same number of opportunities as Hooper, that Bryant would’ve had near-identical stats, for 1/10th the cost.
Bryant’s similar rate of production, on a far better deal, wrecks Hooper’s value. If he could be moved and save the team $30-odd million, they should. That said, they can’t. Hooper’s contract is a poison pill. So he’s staying because there’s no reason to eat $16 odd million in penalties.
He did have one huge overarching value that helped save his grade, he blocked really well. Not great. No one is going to see him become a Pro Bowler just on his blocking, but he’s not a liability, so that’s something.
He’s also (after one year) not worth his contract either. Hopefully, that changes in 2021.
QB Case Keenum
Contract: 3 years/ $18 million
2020 Stats: 2 GP, 5 completions, 10 attempts, 46 Yards
Performance Grade: N/A
Contract Grade: F
Case Keenum is the 4th highest-paid backup in the NFL according to Fanbuzz.com. The only three backups higher than Keenum are the Raiders’ Marcus Mariota, the Saints’ Taysom Hill, and Washington’s Alex Smith. Here’s why Keenum has a worse deal than all of them. Mariota has an opt-out this offseason which the Raiders will surely activate, and save them $10 million in 2021. The Saints locked up Hill, who had 13 total touchdowns, went 3-1 as the Saints starter, and is in line to be their quarterback going forward. For Washington, Smith signed his deal expecting to be the starter before his leg broke like an over-fried chicken wing.
None of them were given a large, fat contract to backup a player simply because he knew the system. Honestly, that’s why Keenum got the deal. He’s not a “good ” quarterback. He’s a career 27-35 in starters, he’s only had one season of 20+ touchdowns, and after being given the keys to the city in Denver, he fell on his face.
The Browns could’ve signed two actual starters for the secondary with the money wasted on Keenum.
LB B.J. Goodson
Contract: 1 year/ $2.4 million
2020 Stats: 14 GP, 91 tackles, 0.5 sack, 6 pass deflections, 2 INTs
Performance Grade: D+
Contract Grade: C
B.J. Goodson probably won’t be back for Cleveland, at least as a starter. His place, on its own, was a disappointment considering who he replaced. That said, he was not an investment that’s going to hurt the team long term and one could even argue his number isn’t too far off from being an acceptable multi-year figure for a backup.
It’s true Goodson really didn’t improve the rush defense, which goes back to the point of last offseason when we screamed “it’s not the linebackers faults, it’s the defensive tackles” repeatedly. He also was lost when it came to covering guys across the middle. Yet, in a pinch, you’d be feeling fine if Goodson was your backup at the middle linebacker spot. He’s not overly athletic and he doesn’t get to the point of contact all that fast but he doesn’t have an erratic level of production.
He’s never great but never terrible.
SS Karl Joseph
Contract: 1 Year/ $2.5 million
2020 Stats: 14 GP, 67 tackles, 4 pass deflections, 1 INT
Performance Grade: F
Contract Grade: D-
His contract didn’t hurt the Browns at all. He’s not coming back, there’s no way anyone could give this man a third deal after seeing how poor he played. Karl Joseph started in only half the games he played, was replaced by Ronnie Harrison and Sheldrick Redwine, and was so bad that he actually ruined the reputation of Andrew Sendejo, despite it being Joseph and not Sendejo that blew a lot of early-season plays.
He was injury-riddled, inconsistent, and didn’t make any plays of substance. The team could’ve replaced him with a practice squad guy and it wouldn’t have made a difference. The problem with why this signing is so bad is that the Raiders drafted him in the first round and didn’t even give him a fifth-year option. Even David Njoku got the fifth-year picked up. That was all the Browns needed to see to know this guy was not the right fit.
They still went after him anyway.
DT Andrew Billings
Contract: 1 year/ $3.5 million
2020 Stats: N/A
Performance Grade: N/A
Contract Grade: F
Players who sit out a year in the NFL generally speaking, don’t return to form. This is a problem for the Browns and Andrew Billings because Billings wasn’t seen as a starter before opting out. You see, Billings sat out all of 2020 due to COVID-19. That’s not exactly a great situation to be in. Especially since guys who were far safer in their jobs like La’Veon Bell, became a shell of themselves after sitting out. How will sitting out affect Billings? Will he be as good as he was, worse, or can he somehow be even better? Him being better isn’t likely, but it’s possible.
The reason why this deal bottoms out at an F is two-fold. Firstly, he signed it and didn’t make a single play in a Browns uniform. Sure, he had his reasons, but that doesn’t change the cold hard facts of the matter. Secondly, that one-year deal he signed in 2020 was tolled over to 2021, which means that the team didn’t’ have to worry about it last year, but now they do. That means the Browns are on the hook for him, whether they want to be any more or not.
Sure, a lot of people think real life is a video game and they think “oh, well Billings didn’t play last year so he’ll be just as good but in better shape!” That’s not how life works. Especially football. The longer you’re away from the game, the harder it is to return to form. It’s mind-boggling that this is true but it is. The Browns know this. They’re stuck with Billings unless they want to eat about 75% of his contract.
A deal you can’t get out of without incurring a penalty, for a talent who has proven nothing in over a year, is the pinnacle of a bad contract.
Hopefully, he can change that narrative in 2021.
CB Kevin Johnson
Contract: 1 year, $3.5 million
2020 Stats: 13 GP, 35 tackles, 3 pass deflections, 1 forced fumble
Performance Grade: D-
Contract Grade: D+
Kevin Johnson was expected to provide an instant upgrade in the secondary but all he ended up doing was proving that he wasn’t worth a single penny of his contract. Johnson was supposed to be the nickel back for the Browns but an injury to Greedy Williams propelled Johnson, Terrence Mitchell, and M.J. Stewart into huge roles that none of them were capable of handling.
Johnson’s deal is favorable but his play was so poor you can’t help but accept that there was nothing of value with his play. He didn’t contribute to anything defensively and considering how often the Browns got torched by speedier receivers, it’s not hard to just assume most of the corners on this team were awful.
The corners were so bad, guys like Andrew Sendejo, Sheldrick Redwine, and Ronnie Harrison were often blamed for plays they weren’t responsible for. Johnson may have value as a dime or quarter corner still but he’s clearly not a top-three guy.
S Andrew Sendejo
Contract: 1 year/$ 2.225 million
2020 Stats: 14 GP, 67 tackles, 2 pass deflections, 1 forced fumble
Performance Grade: C+
Contract Grade: C+
Andrew Sendejo missed only two games all year due to a concussion. Sendejo played well against the run, becoming one of the Brows’ better tacklers, and was serviceable against the pass. He wasn’t a playmaker by any means but he wasn’t the liability the screaming hordes on Twitter would have you believe.
So many of those early touchdowns Sendejo was blamed for came off of Karl Joseph, Kevin Johnson, or another cornerback blowing their assignment, forcing Sendejo to sprint across the field to try and salvage the play. Because he was always arriving just as the play concluded, most fans saw this as Sendejo’s fault, but he oftentimes came from the other side of the field, indicating that it wasn’t his fault.
Some fans are going to believe the popular narrative though. That’s not to say that Sendejo is irreplaceable, because that’s not true. Just keep in mind how often players in the secondary were rotated out, and remember that Sendejo started every game he was healthy for. That should tell you something. Unless he retires, I expect the Browns to float him a similar offer.
DE Adrian Clayborn
Contract: 2 year/ $5.75 million
2020 Stats: 15 GP, 12 tackles, 3.5 sacks, 1 pass deflection, 1 forced fumble
Performance Grade: C-
Contract Grade: C+
Adrian Clayborn had a rough year for the Browns. He had two sacks in back to back games and despite playing the next six games, didn’t register a single stat across that span. He then had 1.5 sacks against the Eagles before again falling off.
If there was no post-season, this is an “F” and the Browns would be advised to cut the veteran and eat the $500,000 cap hit.
There were playoffs, however, and thanks to Myles Garrett having yet another lower-leg injury, as well as Olivier Vernon’s career possibly being ended by his own lower leg injury, Clayborn played well. In the game against the Chiefs, Clayborn had a Monty Brown-like pounce onto Darrell Williams for a rare highlight from the defense.
OT Jack Conklin
Contract: 3 years/$42 million
2020 Stats: 15 GP, 999 snaps, 2 sacks allowed, 2 penalties committed
Performance Grade: A+
Contract Grade: C-
Shush, don’t even comment yet. REMINDER, this is a grade of the contract against the production. Jack Conklin is an A+ player, probably the best tackle in football. He’s an All-Pro and the best offensive linemen on a team full of All-Pro offensive linemen. He’s just now entering the prime of his career.
So why does the contract suck? It’s only for three years. When he’s 28, he’ll be a free agent again. Yeah. The Browns only gave him three years. Why did those fools ONLY give him three years? Five, at least, would have been a good start. This man is going to be playing well into his mid-30’s at a high level. The Browns should’ve realized this, considering his rookie year was an All-Pro year and his fourth year should’ve been.
Now, in the offseason of 2023, Conklin is probably going to ask for almost double the deal he just signed, because he’s as good as David Bakhtiari, the leagues’ top-paid offensive linemen. The Browns have now set themselves up to either pay Conklin another, even fatter, contract or let him walk.
All because you underestimated him.