Coming to Terms with the Ubaldo Jimenez Trade
August 1, 2011Breaking NFL News: Browns’ Phil Taylor Optimistic
August 1, 2011Last season the Browns were thin at the cornerback position. Many were stunned that they broke camp with just a handful of players including Sheldon Brown, Eric Wright and then rookie Joe Haden. The group managed to stay relatively healthy, but many times gave up big plays.
This year the Browns have started camp without Wright, who signed with the Lions. Haden is now the top cover man in the backfield. Sheldon Brown is a smart veteran player, but will be another year past 30 this season (32). The Browns added Buster Skrine in the 6th round of the draft this season, and signed undrafted rookie James Dockery. Add in Mike Adams (also plays safety) and Coye Francies plus a few other camp invites and you have the cornerback depth chart. Usama Young has also played the position, but was most likely brought to Cleveland to play safety.
Make you a little nervous?
Conventional thinking was that the Browns would look to add a veteran in free agency, especially if they let Eric Wright go. But the big names have come off the market already. Not that we expected the Browns to sign Asomugha, but many felt they would have had a Jonathon Joseph or Josh Wilson type in their sites.
Now if they are interested in signing a player to start opposite Haden or be that third corner they are staring at Carlos Rogers from Washington or Corey Graham from Chicago. Sure, there will be cuts later and an opportunity to add a little depth, but it seems like the team may be content to enter the season with the depth they have.
Haden and Brown are good players. Haden has the potential to be a great cover man. But should either of these two go down and the Browns are looking at a lot of inexperience and career back-ups. Contrast that with the rest of the division. Cincinnati and Baltimore have solid CB units. Pittsburgh retained Ike Taylor and William Gay. Perhaps that last comparison is advantage Cleveland.
Is there someone out there that the Browns should be targeting? It seems they will roll the dice with the young players they brought into camp. It will be interesting to see what Coye Francies does with a coaching change. He didn’t seem to get much of a chance to play under the last group. I can’t imagine the front office will keep him over the younger guys they brought in if he doesn’t have the potential to start down the road.
20 Comments
work out a deal for Asante
Speaking of the Browns, what the heck is the deal with our No. 1 pick, Taylor from Baylor? What on earth is he holding out for? Better weather? The guy’s getting fined 30K A DAY!
I thought I heard that the picks in the 20s are holding out for a fourth year guaranteed like the top 20, while the teams are offering three years guaranteed.
Does anyone else feel like Browns brass expects us to stink due to the change is schemes and the little time to prep the team based on the short offseason, so they decided to roll with pretty much what we have, see who can play, who can’t, and start really trying to add impact players next year?
Read this for information about Taylor’s holdout. Good explanation.
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/08/01/seven-first-rounders-still-unsigned/
people complain about eric wright, but shelden brown was beat a ton last year too. his falldown defense got him in a lot of highlights (for the other team).
hoping Carlos Rogers is still in our plans (he’s apparently visiting Carolina).
Wright should have been retained and moved to FS…. jus sayin
What about Osi Umenyora??? He is pushing for a trade, we desparately need D line supports, we have extra picks from the Atlanta draft trade…. Right? Right?
Osi or Asante!
Giants want a first round pick for Osi. No way we do that. As Sir Charles says, that would be a turrible move. Turrible.
Asante is mad because he’s being pushed out of a starter’s job. Not sure Cleveland would be any more attractive to him (and probably less so, considering the large competitive hill that we have to climb).
You guys hear about Bunkley? He is a Bronco, not a Brown.
http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/43977343/ns/sports-player_news/
@dwhit: I think that is exactly the mindset going in to this season. Not much else they can do given that we are starting over yet again. Assuming this and next year’s draft picks hit for the most part, I’d say next year before we can become a middle of the pack team (7-8 wins), and 2013 seems reasonable for us to start looking like a contender (potential for 9-12 wins a year).
Ok, I have a question. Does this count as the Broncos acquiring yet another former Browns DL
and Bunkley can go bunk himself. seriously. he’s lucky Heckert has that ‘good working relationship’ with Philly or this could have gotten ugly.
This really disappoints me. I thought we were going to have a great 3 man rotation for DT at least. Now, it appears that we will be going with the people here last year. Add that to the fact that we have not been rumored to be looking at anyone for more D help. Goldson is still available, Tatupu got dropped by Seattle and would be a good back-up to the LBs, Rogers is still out there, Antwan Odom could be a cheap option DE… theres depth all over the place. And I just dont see any urgency to attempt anything. Hopefully Im wrong.
Did anyone go out to training camp this weekend?
A little off-topic, but the team shop prices were astounding IMO. Coming off this lockout I was hoping to stock up on some cheap Brownies gear, but they want over a hundred bucks for a crappy screen-printed jersey… unbelievable.
I hope I’m horribly wrong, and that the Browns win the Superbowl this year, but I feel like this season is going to be embarrassing…
Luck.
Coye Francies FTW
Coye could wait a year and see what the next coaching staff will have for him.
rg3 just dont want to play for the browns and he has said it i dont want to play for the browns so by by##^$#63 rg3