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March 9, 2015The Cleveland Browns offseason hasn’t seen a ton of noteworthy activity thus far―35-year-old quarterbacks and face-bashed punters aside―but the team took another step toward hopeful improvement Monday evening when it was announced that wide receiver Brian Hartline, most recently of the Miami Dolphins, will sign with the Brownies. According to Hartline’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, the deal is for two years and $6 million.
Hartline is an Ohio State alumnus, and a fellow Buckeye was first to break the news:
Breaking: Brian Hartline is signing with the Cleveland #Browns.
— Dustin Fox (@DustinFox37) March 9, 2015
According to Rosenhaus, it's a two-year, $6 million deal for Hartline with the Browns.
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) March 10, 2015
Wide receiver is among the most significant areas of need for the Browns with Josh Gordon’s ongoing woes. The 28-year-old Hartline is not a game changer on Gordon’s level―no free agent wideout is―but he is an experienced starter with two 1,000-yard seasons under his belt.
In his six pro seasons, all with Miami, Hartline has totaled 298 receptions for 4243 yards (14.2 yard average) and 12 touchdowns. His best years were 2012 and 2013, when he averaged 75 catches for 1050 yards. He has not found the end zone much in his career, as four touchdowns represents his single-season high.
Hartline was the Dolphins’ fourth-leading receiver in both receptions and yards last season, having hauled in 39 passes for 474 yards. He fell behind Mike Wallace (reason: $$$) and rookie Jarvis Landry (reason: good play) on the Marine Mammals1 depth chart after two seasons as a starter.
The terms of the deal seem quite reasonable for a potential starting-caliber receiver, and the signing represents another cautious move by a Browns front office that has thus far been wary of committing big money to…well, just about anyone.
Hartline will help refill the local-boys-named-Brian void when quarterback Brian Hoyer’s departure is made official. Hartline is a Canton native, and attended GlenOak High School before playing three seasons at Ohio State.
His former teammate Beanie Wells was among the first to wish him well with his new team.
@BeanieWells26 thanks brother
— Brian Hartline (@brianhartline) March 10, 2015
- Credit for this term goes to Gregg Easterbrook of Tuesday Morning Quarterback fame. [↩]
13 Comments
Super Bowl!
woooooooooooooooo
And Nachos!!
just gettin’ warmed-up … c’mon , ray , let’s fill some more holes.
… IMO , this is a better signing than dumping a boatload of money on someone like randall cobb … especially when we will be more of a running team & i still don’t see us being set at the QB position.
Well thank God we have finally and permanently fixed the WR position with this signing!
You have to be on the field to be a game changer.
No need to draft one, now.
This seems like a cheap upgrade at a position of need. Not “The Answer”, but a no-brainer. Though I don’t watch enough Dolphins football to know, it wouldn’t surprise me if Hartline still has enough in the tank to put up 2012/2013 numbers. Plus, he’s 6’2. A WR over 5’10? Weird.
hi NJO … if they can nab another free-agent WR like crabtree or andre holmes before we go into the draft , that would be great.
now , if they can just convince LB trent cole to come here & get of one the decent DT’s that are still out there , i would be happy.
I have been buried at work, but came over here to see what Bode has to say. I know he wanted this to happen in the worst way, and I think I agree that it’s a fantastic value play.
At that price, he’s a really nice upgrade over Miles Austin.
Good pick-up. A veteran player at a reasonable free-agent price.