CLEVELAND, Ohio – Now that JJ Watt has signed with the Arizona Cardinals, the Browns will focus on keeping their own free agents and acquiring other veterans.
The league year opens on March 17, with the early negotiation period for free agents starting on March 15. Once the salary cap is determined, Browns CEO Andrew Berry will make offers to some of his own free agents, including receiver Rashard Higgins and cornerback Terrance Mitchell and Kevin Johnson.
He also promised to remain active in the trading market, and will investigate offers from now until the November deadline. He selected starting safety Ronnie Harrison in a trade with the Jaguars for a fifth round in September, and he will not stop there.
The deadline for applying the franchise or transfer mark to a player is Tuesday, so the Browns will have a much better idea of who is available thereafter. Teams are also expected to cut many players this week to get under the cap, and this will give teams and players a boost for free agency.
Here are some things to know and expect when approaching a free agency:
1. What happened to Watt?
The Browns were one of the teams that made an offer to Watt, but as I reported last week, it was no higher than the two-year deal with a maximum of $ 31 million and $ 23 million that the Cardinals gave him did not give. Watt really liked the Browns, but took more money to sign with the Cardinals. He also said he likes Kyler Murray and the weather in Arizona a lot. The Browns probably offered Watt something in the vicinity of the $ 11 million they paid Olivier Vernon last season, or would have ended up there if talks continued. They will now probably use the money to exercise another lead in this saturated market.
2. Von Miller, Carl Lawson, Haason Reddick, Trey Hendrickson and other fringe runners on their radar
This is a wonderful year to need a complimentary patient, and Brown is likely to get one of the best available on the market. The question is which is available? Among the more intriguing are Von Miller of Denver, Carl Lawson of Cincinnati, Haason Reddick of Arizona, Trey Hendrickson of New Orleans and Yannick Ngakoue of Baltimore. Once teams start downloading salaries and restructuring contracts next week, some of these players will sign with their teams again. Lawson, for example, could be concentrated by the Bengals for about $ 15.8 million.
If not, the Browns are likely to pursue him. He is only 25 and last season placed number 9 on the rankings of profootballfocus.com with 64 hits. The Broncos have said they want to try to keep Miller, the eight-time Pro Bowler, but he will be an excellent option if they do not. Reddick, 26, can be issued now that they have Cardinal Watt, and he struggled a six-pointer to pass with his 12.5 pockets. Hendrickson finished last season in the NFL with 13.5 bags in his first year as an appetizer, and Yannick Ngakoeu, for whom the Browns tried to swap last season, combined eight bags in Minnesota and Baltimore.
Pit Dupree of Pittsburgh, who had eight pockets before tearing his ACL last season and 11.5 the previous year, would not only strengthen the Browns, but also weaken the Steelers. It’s a real smorgasbord of pass-rushers, and the Browns will no doubt emerge satisfied.
3. Odell Beckham Jr.
The Browns love Beckham a lot, but would have listened to out-of-season due to his $ 15.75 million salary for 2021. The reality is that there probably won’t be much market due to his salary and the fact that the salary limit is up to approx. $ 185 million this season of the estimated $ 210 million it would have been if it were not for COVID-19. Beckham also comes off a torn ACL, and it’s hard to trade for a player in the midst of a rehabilitation. He looks good ahead of schedule and should be 100% by 2021, but the injury is likely to leave teams resting.
It looks like the Browns are making progress with largely the same reception room as last year, provided they can sign Rashard Higgins again.
4. Rashard Higgins
Higgins seemed upset last week that he had not yet received an offer from the Browns, but that was only because the salary cap had not yet been set. As soon as that happens, Higgins will receive an offer from the Browns, and he will also get the chance to see what he can get from other teams during the March 15 to 17 negotiations window. If a team is willing to pay him $ 6 million a year, his estimated market value through spotrac.com, he should probably take it and run. The Browns, with more than $ 30 million of their cap in Beckham and Landry, probably do not want to pay them that much.
But Baker Mayfield is very fond of Higgins, and the coaches too, so they will try to keep him.
Breshard Perriman
If Higgins gets away, the Browns could have their old friend Perriman on their radar. He played for the Browns in 2018, and Berry was VP of Player Personnel when they signed him. Perriman, who would pose a much-needed deep threat to the Browns, has natural chemistry with Mayfield and has revived his career here after being cut twice by the Ravens and Washington in the span of a week. Perriman, the Ravens’ former pick in the first round, played for the Jets in 2020, but languished on their terrible offense. Here he is able to have at least six TDs per season.
David Njoku
Njoku’s $ 6,013 million fifth-year option is guaranteed on March 17, and it looks like the Browns are in full swing with their ambivalent tight end. The Browns have always appreciated Njoku and never wanted to give him away. Berry was here in 2017 when they performed in the first round to draft him, and he still seems to like him a lot. Njoku played well and in the AFC division game against the Chiefs, and the Browns believe he has a good lead in this solid series.
If the Browns keep him, and it looks like they will, they will not need the fatal Kyle Rudolph, 31, who was released by the Vikings last week and would like to reunite with Kevin Stefanski.
Lavonte David
The Bucs are likely to put strong pressure on David, the leader of their lineout corps. But if they can not pay him, the Browns will probably step in and try to grab him. Its market value is $ 12.7 million a year, according to spotrac.com, but it’s worth it. He is 31, but has not yet lost a step. He is the no. 5-line volleyball in the NFL according to pff.com, and number 6 in coverage. He’s exactly what the Browns need to boost their lineout corps, and the player they could use against Kansas City.
If they can not find him, they will look to others, such as Buffalo’s Matt Milano who is a short second, and Detroit’s Jarrad Davis.
8. Marshon Lattimore
If the Saints decide to deal with their three-time Pro Bowl corner, the Browns will likely have him on their trading radar as a possible partner for his former Buckeyes teammate and fellow hometowner, Denzel Ward. A corner space in Cleveland Central would make sense for many reasons, including the chance to have two Pro Bowlers roaming together in the defensive backfield.
The Browns hope Greedy Williams gets 100% back from the nerve damage in his shoulder, but they need to have a solid backup plan, and Lattimore just represents that. If the Browns had him, Williams, Ward, Grant Delpit and Ronnie Harrison, they would have had a dynamite backfield and been one of the best in the NFL. They’ll have to pay Ward and Lattimore around $ 17 million a year for the next few years, but it may be worth it.
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