All-Star Performance: Suns at Cavs Behind the Box Score
January 19, 2017Cavs’ LeBron James, Kyrie Irving named East All-Star starters
January 20, 2017Hey everyone, welcome to Friday! Thanks so much for hanging out with us and a special thanks to those that have listened to all the latest episodes of the WFNY Podcast. It’s been a humongous month so far and we’re only just over halfway through it. Also a big thanks to the Patreon supporters. We’re now up to 50 people supporting us. We’re having conversations with all of you about what steps we should take next and if you want to be included go over to Patreon and do what you can to help the cause!
Cleveland Browns Free Agency Could Be Amazing…
Our good friends over at Dawgs by Nature did the math after finding out the Browns were rolling over more than $50 million in cap space. Sashi Brown confirmed that in the press conference he held after the season. When you do all the complex math and ensure that you gave yourself enough zeroes at the end, the Cleveland Browns will have about $107 million to spend in free agency. That’s a whole lot of franchise-changing import potential.
Obviously, the Browns need to think about starting at home. Terrelle Pryor and Jamie Collins will need the Browns to pay them at least $1 more than whatever they get offered anywhere else in order to justify staying in Cleveland. In the NFL, guys generally don’t give discounts, and the Browns haven’t earned any kinds of discounts from any player. Jamie Collins could easily get about $10 million per year in cap commitments from the Browns. And Terrelle Pryor could see himself approaching that amount as well. According to Jason La Canfora the Browns might have Jamie Collins re-upped very soon.
The Browns have made significant progress on an extension with pending free-agent Jamie Collins, sources said. Deal to be done by weekend
— Jason La Canfora (@JasonLaCanfora) January 20, 2017
I wouldn’t expect the Browns to max out their cap or anything crazy like that after that, but they can’t just spend it all, because if any of their rookies do hit down the road, they won’t have any space left. And none of this is to mention if the Browns ever find a QB who is worth that elite Flacco cash. If you don’t have that quarterback on the roster, you always need to have enough flexibility to have it or create it should you ever find “the guy.”
The Browns could still make a big impact on their roster with free agency. Depending on who actually hits the open market, there are many opportunities for the team to improve their roster on the offensive line and in the defensive secondary. Knowing what we know about the front office, expect anyone signed to be firmly still in their 20’s for the majority of the life of their new deal. And you never know, maybe the Browns will shock the world and make a run at one of the quarterbacks who is set to hit the market or one who might hit the market like Tyrod Taylor.
Regardless, with the amount of cap space the Browns have, if they sign their two guys and find three to four other legitimate, proven NFL players to supplement the roster, it could make a huge difference year over year. Yes, it makes sense to build the Browns through the draft, but that’s more about finding stars. Supplementing with complimentary starters in free agency is just fine. One thing’s for sure. The Browns will have plenty of bullets.
A really nice in-person podcast with Harv!
As I noted in the podcast, I’ve met Harv in person now and yet I haven’t met all the WFNY writers yet. It’s a strange world in which we live, but it sure was fun to share some space and podcast with a long-time friend of WFNY.
Your weekly moment of soccer zen…
Remember that scene in X-Men where that guy sees the world in slow motion? I’m convinced Lionel Messi sees the world in slow motion when he’s dribbling a soccer ball.
24 Comments
One issue with the Browns having $110m in cap room ($107m is the total cap – slightly different number) is that NFL teams will have more money than ever in this FA period.
23 teams have at least $30m
29 teams have at least $10m
Only KC (3m), NYJ (-5m) and Dallas (-5m) are in bad shape before it begins. And, this is without the normal restructuring and cutting people who have non-guaranteed monies.
And, we’ll meet someday Craig.
I think they’re at least a year away from any monster free agency spree. Even next season, they’re still in the development and assessment phases. That said, I hope that they bring in established talent to fill voids that are hampering development (namely, O-Line).
I hope they kick the tires on Kevin Zeitler of the Bengals. Hes 26, Hue knows him, and he can help shore up the middle of the line. The catch is that guards are worth around 9 million per year in free agency, and Im not sure if the eggheads have caught up to that trend, or if they still consider a position like guard to be fungible
Trumaine Johnson might be worth a look too. 27 yrs old, played for the Rams last year. he was franchised last year and didnt have the greatest of years, so he may not command Joe Haden money (though Id rather build the secondary via the draft, and even Tramon Williams money is alot to spend on a corner if the rest of your defense sucks) Ok, just talked myself out of this one
+1 for spending wisely for o-line help
I’m good going after both of those players and they both have ties w/ our coaches so they should at least listen.
Before the Browns go spending big on free agency, they need to demonstrate that there is a promising core group of players and coaches. Otherwise, they’re either overpaying (Kruger) or writing retirement checks (Bowe).
To me, this isn’t a chicken-egg argument. The Browns first have to prove they’re competent and stable before they can go paying for top-talent beyond the minimum necessities (O-line). They are clearly not to that point yet.
And as you suggested, this could be an expensive year to outbid everyone. Sit tight HBT.
double bonus with Zeitler is you weaken a division rival. Thats the sort of added value I would think gets Sashi all hot and bothered
flip-side: there are more true quality starters in UFA than I can ever remember
if there was a year to go after the 2nd tier (not the stars, the starters), then this is that year — who knows if that is true moving forward
i was expecting RGB’s “there will be no spending of the monies” pic to be the first post of the day here.
http://www.arcticblubber.com/gallery/d/904-2/image+_1__001.jpg
Been busy this morning.
Fine, but no “spree” please.
temporary placeholder: https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s–2XGYaEQQ–/c_fill,fl_progressive,g_center,h_450,q_80,w_800/1350807032035842730.gif
Those nerds have to build through the draft first. It’s a good sign that Pryor and Collins are interested in staying as well.
Probably true that in a perfect world the Browns are a year away from a spending spree. But Hue and the HBT have to be wondering what happens to them if they go 3-13 in 2017. Also, spending in free agency spreads the risk of having no successful moves across very different types of transactions – even if they have a mediocre draft, they would be able to point to a successful signing as proof of their progress.
And lest anyone point out that it is a tragedy that Browns management has to think this way: yes it is.
https://media.giphy.com/media/HJa1miV7yANsk/giphy.gif
good job , HARV !
HARV reminds me of this guy … and i have to give the guy credit , he , and everyone else in this forum , probably shudders when they reply to one of my posts , knowing he / they’ve just opened themselves up to my sunshiny disposition. it’s all good , my brothers !! https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4925c375aeab78dd0e5bb058009b639e2f3e1aace7909d5783076945b6c0d732.jpg
okay , boys … weave a little magic this off-season , we really really need it. i wanna see lots of this … https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6b4a63d3359ffc7cea31f65e8013d7cc4603d93e8864594db25379ba53dd8816.gif
How sad is the NFLPA? Teams just don’t spend.
Yeah, that whole 90% of cap spending sure didn’t work out how they anticipated it would (since it was cash alottments with tons of loopholes).
I am all about some wise spending of the monies. Hopefully the Hue connection to Kevin Zeitler and the Gregg connection to Trumaine Johnson will pay off. I’m in favor of paying Tyrod Taylor for a couple years as my article today states, but if I’m being honest, I don’t think he would come to Cleveland when he could potentially go to Denver or another team closer to winning a title.
Google is paying 97$ per hour! Work for few hours and have longer with friends & family! !mj178d:
On tuesday I got a great new Land Rover Range Rover from having earned $8752 this last four weeks.. Its the most-financialy rewarding I’ve had.. It sounds unbelievable but you wont forgive yourself if you don’t check it
!mj178d:
➽➽
➽➽;➽➽ http://GoogleFinancialJobsCash178MediaHouseGetPay$97Hour… ★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★::::::!mj178d:….,……..
https://m.popkey.co/75baf1/0D9Mv.gif
If they spend reasonable money on foundation players on the line of scrimmage, it will give them the freedom to take the BPA in the draft, instead of reaching for O-linemen.