While We’re Waiting… Giles Retrospective, Rebuilding Tribe and Quinn’s Numbers
March 12, 2010Browns Bullet Points: NFL Free Agency Edition
March 12, 2010ESPN’s Adam Schefter broke the news this morning, and the Browns quickly followed with a press release.
The Cleveland Browns today signed tight end Benjamin Watson to a multi-year contract as an unrestricted free agent from the New England Patriots, where he had spent each of his first six NFL seasons (2004-09).
Originally a first-round draft choice of the Patriots in 2004 (32nd overall), the 6-3, 255-pound Watson has appeared in 71 regular season games in his career, including 47 starts. During that time he has caught 167 passes for 2,102 yards and 20 touchdowns. He also has played in nine playoff contests, starting seven of them, and tallied 19 receptions for 195 yards and three touchdowns. He turned in his most productive season in 2006 when he hauled in 49 passes for 643 yards and three touchdowns. He accounted for a career-high six touchdown catches the following year, when he totaled 36 receptions for 389 yards.
The deal is reportedly for three years and $12 million, $6.35 million guaranteed. Schefter reports that the Browns were in a bit of a bidding war with the Seattle Seahawks, but came out on top.
General manager Tom Heckert spoke very highly of Watson, who visited Berea yesterday with a pair of other free agents.
“We viewed Ben as one of the top all-around tight ends in the free agent market,” said Heckert. “Because of his athleticism and intelligence, he has proven valuable as both a receiver and blocker during his career, and has performed well in both facets. He comes from a winning program in New England and possesses the traits that we like in a player. We feel as though he can help us in many different areas and we are excited about his addition to our team.”
Last season, the Browns traded standout tight end Kellen Winslow to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and added Robert Royal, formerly of the Buffalo Bills. Throughout the 2009 season, the team added Evan Moore as well. A team that is in dire need of receiving options, Watson should instantly be featured in all pass-catching schemes.
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(AP Photo/Winslow Townson)
38 Comments
big fan of this move, hes just a solid player
as a guy that lives in boston and has watched a lot of pats games over the past ten years, I think this is a solid pick up for the brownies. I realize we’re talking about the pats passing game vs. the browns, but this guy always seemed to quietly make big plays. He had the ability to get open and perhaps more importantly hit the seam in the middle of the field to stretch the middle. don’t remember him being an unbelievable blocker, but if (I know) we can get something out of our receivers and find a decent quarterback I think he can come in and have a big impact
I like this signing alot…
Can someone tell me who the other FAs were who “visited Berea yesterday?”
If it means Robert Royal never sets foot on the field ever again in Orange and Brown, I like this move. Wait, this guy can actually *catch* too? Bonus.
JK, I think it was Justin Fargas and Jake Delhomme.
would love to hear what you guys thought/heard about him before this pickup. fairly big-name pickup yeah? front page on boston.com, but once again this is boston. looking for an outside view as I said I’ve lived up here for so long.
@JK….. Jake Dellome is the only other name I heard…. gulp
I had Ben Watson on one of my fantasy teams last year and he was middle of the road for me. I do like his great hands, solid blocking, he put up 5 TD’s, but the most important stat to me is the 14 ypc. Didn’t light it up in New England, but look at the other weapons on the team. Very happy about this acquisition.
I like this pickup…honestly wouldn’t mind fargas either if we can get him on the cheap.
I’m really happy with this pick up. we need a TE really bad, and when I first heard he was visiting I was very excited. TE’s aren’t featured much in NE’s offense, but he still got decent touches. He’s quick and has great hands. Plus Royal will now be cut and never see the light of day as a Brown again. He should help our QB’s and WR’s and probably have a big year compared to his previous seasons.
I’m not excited about Fargas because there are good RB’s in the draft hat can be had later on. One that comes to mind is Ben Tate from Auburn. He is a real beast at 5’11 220 and runs a 4.4 40-yard dash. He had a great year at Auburn. Monetrio Hardesty is another guy who is similar size and speed to Tate that could really help us to and be picked up a little later in the draft.
Browns have patched three holes already, with the draft and more free agency looming. I’m a fan of this offseason.
I’m loving this offseason so far as well. Lot’s of good character, solid players, who aren’t breaking the bank. Nothing for me will ever top the Shaun Rogers deal (as I was a big fan of his work in Detroit) but, these pick ups have made me excited, like it was 2008 all over again.
@7
TE will prolly never put up big numbers in fantasy in NE as long as the Pats have Wes Welker. The fact that he put up numbers at all bodes well.
What do you all think this spells for Evan Moore and Michael Gaines? Moore sparked a lot of interest and Gaines seemed to have good hands and could block. I’d like to see both of them on the roster next year.
Adios Robert Royal and sorry to say it but Heiden’s best days are behind him.
“would love to hear what you guys thought/heard about him before this pickup”
I was positive on Watson coming here. There are not many options at TE in the FA pool, so to get one with the hands of Benjamin is a plus. He should be a great compliment to the young WRs.
[…] on Benjamin Watson. I know we all miss Kellen Winslow sometimes. Sometimes. Getting rid of Winslow was the right […]
Mr. Watson I do believe, nice addition for whoever plays QB. I liked what I saw out of Evan Moore I can’t imagine he wouldn’t be a nice #2 TE along with Watson.
And yes Fargas and Delhomme visited yesterday and supposedly Delhomme was going to take a physical as well.
I actually like this move. I was a big fan of Watson when he was in NE, and now that he’s with a team that actually uses a TE, I think he’ll excell here.
As for Royal, I’d like to see him trying to hitchhike from Berea to wherever he’s going, because I don’t see him staying on the roster, even though he wasn’t teribble here, he still wasn’t on my good list.
As for Hieden, I think its time for him to retire. He’s been great here in Cleveland, always filling in when Winslow was being an idiot or screwed up his ACL while doing wheelies in the Corprate College parking lot. I’d like to see him retire and become the TE coach. Then again, thats what I wanted Wille McGinist to do when he retired (respectively to LB). Oh well.
With Moore and Gaines, I thought they both showed great potential. I’d like to see us retain both of them, and at least let them switch off in those double TE packages. Maybe one of them can switch to WR/FB, and we won’t have to worry about competition? Nah, this is Cleveland, we can’t have that.
Ben Watson is a fantastic pick-up. I like Fargas… he played well in Oakland (in spite of Oakland’s crappy offensive line), and seemed to only suffer from the fact that Oakland kept trying to use their semi-big-money free agents (Lamont Jordan, Dominic Rhodes) and their shiny new rookie (Darren McFadden).
fun hijack question. Would you rather…
a) the Browns sign Delomme to a 3 year contract
b) the Browns select St. Timothy Tebow
From wiki:
“Even more notable, though, was his pursuit and tackle of Champ Bailey during the Patriots’ 2005 AFC Divisional Playoff game against Denver on January 14, 2006. Bailey intercepted a Tom Brady pass in Denver’s end zone, and proceeded to run it down the full length of the (near) sideline, towards New England’s end zone. At the time of the interception, Watson was on the opposite side of the field from Bailey (on the far sideline), and so he had to take a diagonal pursuit the full (diagonal) length of the field in order to have a chance of catching him. Watson caught up with Bailey at New England’s 2-yard line and tackled him hard, causing Bailey to fumble the ball. The ruling was the ball was fumbled out of bounds at the 1-yard line, and so the Broncos retained possession, and subsequently scored on the next play.”
He’s also the highest scoring Wonderlic test of any current player.
So athletic and intelligent…good combo for a TE.
picking up Metcalf means good things for Quinn, if you ask me. He did well when he had Winslow to dump the ball off to…
My point exactly EZ. If the guy can put up decent numbers on a team as loaded as NE has been, it’s always a positive.
Any relation to Randy Watson? From Randy Watson and Sexual Chocolate?
@ C – thats the first thing that came to mind when I though of him…the chase down of Bailey and the wallop he laid on him…was amazing to see a TE fly like that…
WOW! did I really type Metcalf??? yeeeeah – that was supposed to be Watson…
I really like this signing, and agree with others in hoping that Royal is let loose within the next 2 days (or sooner if possible!). As for Gaines, I believe he was a UFA or RFA that was not tendered. Moore should be back, and maybe a project TE like Graham from Miami or even more so Konz from KSU will be added for production down the line.
@5/TheBoogie: actually, if you’ve seen him play every week for years we should be more interested in what you have to say. I trust that more than a national writer who looks up some stats, makes a phone call and then just throws a opinion out there.
Any QB playing for us this year will be at least a little shaky and will benefit from a reliable tight end who can get open, hang onto the ball and block a little. If he does that, what’s not to like.
@TheBoogie
Where is your avatar from? I want to buy that shirt! lol
@28 Probably his basement but I’m filing an infringement lawsuit demanding the changing of this persons name along with the fool who decided he was original by using my name along with ruining WFNY. Not cool!
Btw in a related issue it seems Gilbert Arenas wants to change his jersey number from zero to six next year, another original individual.
@19 Neither…start Cribbs and get back more for all that ransom he received this winter.
off-topic, but since boogey brought it up – wasnt the deadline for changing your number IF you are staying with your current team last week? does this mean Arenas is going elsewhere???!
@27 Harv – like it’s been mentioned here already, the guy has very good to great hands and it almost seemed like he would lull you to sleep and then catch like four in a row. great speed (as demonstrated by him catching bailey), very strong, and as has been said here too great sense of the game. not sure if it was playing for the pats and the never give up attitude they demonstrate (or used to), but that chasedown of Bailey really says it all…ability and heart. I forget who said it above, I think Var-a-Jay, he’s got a career 12+ ypc I think, so he’s much more than a dink and dunk type of TE. they used him a lot not coming across over the middle, but shooting straight up the middle which was pretty effective especially with his speed and size. ok, now I’m mumbling.
@28 – tee was made by pennantrace and they used to sell them on karmaloop.com
Happy Friday all!
be nice to see the Cavs in action again tonight and Sunday too for that matter against the c’s. I live in South Boston, which if any of you might know has the largest St. Patty’s Day parade around (expecting 650k-1mil people) and it’s this Sunday at 1. should be a great day with hopes for a Cavs victory starting at 3:30
@boogey, not following you…I’m ruining the site?
and TheBoogie comes from Booger from RotN, an unfortunate nickname I’ve had since 1988.
@32
He’s referring to the commenter that has taken the name “Boogeyman is ruining WFNY” or something.
@33 Roger that, thanks
I may change my name to ‘BoogieisruiningWFNYisruiningWFNY’
Here I am!
You guys are so meta.
had to go look at the video of BW that was mentioned earlier.. after watching this clip I say an excellent pick up indeed..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VKUSgHPm4E
btw.. first time poster.. absolutely love the site.