Cool, calm and collected, Luke Walton leads Cavaliers’ crafty reserves
February 28, 2013NBA News: Cavaliers and Omri Casspi in talks surrounding buyout
February 28, 2013The NFL’s free agency period begins in two weeks. The Browns are expected to be somewhat active participants with a ton of cap space to play with. Over that time period we’ll look at who is available and who the Browns might target.
We’ll start on the offensive side of the ball with the receivers. First, the results from last season-
| RECEIVING | ||||||||||||||
| NAME | REC | TAR | YDS | AVG | TD | LONG | 20+ | YDS/G | FUM | FUML | YAC | 1DN | ||
| Josh Gordon | 50 | 96 | 805 | 16.1 | 5 | 71 | 12 | 50.3 | 1 | 1 | 304 | 40 | ||
| Greg Little | 53 | 91 | 647 | 12.2 | 4 | 43 | 11 | 40.4 | 0 | 0 | 164 | 36 | ||
| Benjamin Watson | 49 | 82 | 501 | 10.2 | 3 | 27 | 5 | 31.3 | 1 | 0 | 196 | 27 | ||
| Trent Richardson | 51 | 70 | 367 | 7.2 | 1 | 27 | 5 | 24.5 | 0 | 0 | 448 | 18 | ||
| Travis Benjamin | 18 | 37 | 298 | 16.6 | 2 | 69 | 4 | 21.3 | 1 | 1 | 67 | 13 | ||
| Mohamed Massaquoi | 17 | 33 | 254 | 14.9 | 0 | 54 | 3 | 28.2 | 0 | 0 | 103 | 11 | ||
| Jordan Cameron | 20 | 39 | 226 | 11.3 | 1 | 28 | 4 | 16.1 | 0 | 0 | 106 | 12 | ||
| Chris Ogbonnaya | 24 | 32 | 187 | 7.8 | 0 | 38 | 2 | 12.5 | 1 | 1 | 200 | 10 | ||
| Jordan Norwood | 13 | 19 | 137 | 10.5 | 0 | 27 | 2 | 68.5 | 0 | 0 | 71 | 5 | ||
| Josh Cooper | 8 | 18 | 106 | 13.3 | 0 | 28 | 1 | 17.7 | 0 | 0 | 48 | 6 | ||
| Josh Cribbs | 7 | 11 | 63 | 9.0 | 0 | 24 | 1 | 3.9 | 0 | 0 | 44 | 2 | ||
| Alex Smith | 13 | 18 | 47 | 3.6 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 3.9 | 0 | 0 | 48 | 2 | ||
| Brandon Jackson | 2 | 4 | 20 | 10.0 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 10.0 | 0 | 0 | 26 | 2 | ||
| Montario Hardesty | 2 | 5 | 16 | 8.0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 1.2 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 1 | ||
| Brad Smelley | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3.0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
The Browns have a few free agents of their own on this list of course. Josh Cribbs and Mohamed Massaquoi are both unrestricted free agents. Norwood is a restricted rights free agent. We’ve heard plenty about and from Josh Cribbs, who it seems is unlikely to be back with the Browns despite his wishes. The player you don’t hear much about is Massaquoi. With his injury history and several young slot receivers in the system, don’t expect the Browns to bring back MoMass who never quite lived up to second round pick expectations.
Josh Gordon is essentially Cleveland’s second round pick this season. He and Greg Little will likely be the foundation of this group for the foreseeable future. Unless the Browns spend some crazy money this off season.
The Free Agents-
Top of the class:
Dwayne Bowe – KC
Victor Cruz – NYG – (Restricted)
Mike Wallace – PIT
Greg Jennings – GB
Wes Welker – NE
Danario Alexander – SD – (Restricted)
The Rest:
Donald Jones – BUF – (Restricted)
David Nelson – BUF – (Restricted)
Ruvell Martin – BUF
Louis Murphy – CAR
Johnny Knox – CHI
Andrew Hawkins – CIN
Brandon Tate – CIN
Jordan Norwood – CLE – (Restricted)
Josh Cribbs – CLE
Mohamed Massaquoi – CLE
Kevin Ogletree – DAL
Brandon Stokley – DEN
Kassim Osgood – DET
Donald Driver – GB
Donnie Avery – IND
Austin Collie – IND
Micheal Spurlock – JAC
Steve Breaston – KC
Marlon Moore – MIA – (Restricted)
Jabar Gaffney – MIA
Brian Hartline – MIA
Devin Aromashodu – MIN
Jerome Simpson – MIN
Deion Branch – NE
Julian Edelman – NE
Donte’ Stallworth – NE
Greg Camarillo – NO
Devery Henderson – NO
Courtney Roby – NO
Ramses Barden – NYG
Domenik Hixon – NYG
Jason Hill – NYJ
Braylon Edwards
Chaz Schilens – NYJ
Duke Calhoun – OAK
Derek Hagan – OAK
Emmanuel Sanders – PIT – (Restricted)
Plaxico Burress – PIT
Seyi Ajirotutu – SD – (Restricted)
Richard Goodman – SD – (Restricted)
Braylon Edwards – SEA
Ted Ginn – SF
Randy Moss – SF
Danny Amendola – STL
Titus Young – STL
Brandon Gibson – STL
Steve Smith – STL
Roscoe Parrish – TB
Sammie Stroughter – TB
Brandon Banks – WAS – (Restricted)
Terrell Owens – FA
Chad Johnson – FA
Mark Clayton – FA
Adrian Arrington – FA
Mike Williams – FA
Lee Evans – FA
Mike Sims-Walker – FA
Legedu Naanee – FA
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A few of the top names on the list could still get the franchise tag placed on them. Kansas City has used the tag on Bowe before and might do so again if they can’t get an extension negotiated. Jennings could be tagged by Green Bay but he is rumored to like Miami. New England would like to bring back Welker, but as always with the Patriots- they aren’t afraid to let a WR walk. Victor Cruz will get a first round tender placed on him by the Giants.
Wallace is the downfield threat that Cleveland hasn’t had since Braylon Edwards was catching half the passes thrown to him. Could Josh Gordon become this WR? It’s possible, though he doesn’t have Wallace’s speed. Travis Benjamin has the speed, but not the size. Getting Wallace would cost the Browns a ton, but it would also hurt division rival Pittsburgh in the process.
Alexander is intriguing. He had a career year after signing with the Chargers and playing for Norv Turner (658 yards and 7 TDs.) He has an injury history, which could scare San Diego off, and maybe even the Browns. Turner certainly knows him.
The Browns have had Steve Breaston in for a look. Meh. The only other name on this list that could make a difference in my opinion is Danny Amendola.
22 Comments
Bringing in Ted Ginn could solve a few of our problems. He’d add speed to the WR position and could play the slot if needed and would fill our kick return void in the likely event that Cribbs is gone. He’d also come relatively cheap and he’s still pretty young compared to some of the other guys on this list.
A few guys I wouldn’t mind being signed for the slot / #2 role (if we we’re to move Little to the slot):
Louis Murphy
Andrew Hawkins
Brian Hartline
Julian Edelman
Or heck, maybe we can re-sign Braylon Edwards, Donte Stallworth, Derek Anderson, and Brady Quinn! Believeland!
(Brayon is listed twice.)
What ever happened to Lee Evans? he was good then he was just gone?
can Louis Murphy stay healthy? we could use some depth and I like the speed options though. Murphy and Ginn certainly qualify as “cheap speed” options.
the only WR I would pay big money is Wes Welker. getting a couple of the cheaper options though fills our depth void without touching our draft picks. I like that idea (and want to reboot away from our current Norwood/Cooper/MoMass depth).
for the ‘vet leader to show young bloods the ropes’ i kinda like domenik hixon. two super bowl wins, 6’2″, ran 4.39 in his pro day, tore his right ACL twice. AKRON. the giants blogs i’ve checked show a majority of their fans want him back and view him as reliable and classy.
ive always liked louis murphy from watching the raiders. 6’3″ runs in the 4.3s.
also, though not on your list, i think it’s questionable that ravens keep 32 y.o. anquan boldin. even if you assume they let kruger and reed and cary williams walk, they still need to sign flacco. plus pitta. plus ellerbe. the math becomes very tight. boldin’s $6MM might be a casualty.
i’ll go on that ledge. the ravens will not let Boldin walk.
IF WE HAD ONLY SIGNED LEE EVANS MANGINI WOULD BE THE BEST COACH EVER AND WIN SUPER BOWLS!
I really hope we go after Wallace, Jennings or Bowe. I know it might cost us some cash but we need to stretch the field. Then we can focus the rest of our FA money on CB,S, LB.
I’m more than in for Wallace, I’d love to have Wallace/Gordon on the outside w Little in a slot just like Jennings for GB. That being said I would also be down w Bowe as a 2nd choice, and sign me up for nah for Jennings because like I said I’d like to see Little in that role and don’t think he can help out team much in general.
I’d love to see Brian Hartline (1000+ yards in ’12) added to our WR mix. He should come at a fraction of the cost of the Bowe-Wallace-Jennings types.
UGH – Why didn’t we just sign Lee Evans?
Wallace would really change the landscape but I’m just assuming that, given his expected asking price and our multiple defensive needs, Banner will encourage Norv and Chud to scheme vertical threats in a more cost-effective way.
Also believe that by the end of last season Gordon was already a deep threat on a par with Braylon. Had he hung on to that easy wide open bomb (the one that made Jimmy flip out in the loge) his stats would have skewed further upward … point is, he can get wide open on deep routes and defenses already reduce the cheating toward the line. One more decent receiver and Norv has plenty to work with.
I’m with you. He is very under-rated player (probably because he looks like a “sure-handed possession receiver,” wink, wink). The kid can play, he would come relatively “cheap,” and I wouldn’t mind the Browns bringing him back to the state that’s round on the ends and hi in the middle.
I think there’s good value out there. For instance, it might be realistic to sign Wallace and Hartline. Imagine that WR depth chart.
Wallace
Gordon
Hartline
Little
That…is a legit WR lineup.
if Wallace wants Vincent Jackson money (as rumored), then that would not be a good value though
1,083 to be exact with one game of 250 yards. That means he averaged 50 yards in the rest of the season. Not under-rated in the least.
So Hartline “averaged” 67.7 yards a game.
Victor Cruz “averaged” 68.3 yds/game
Julio Jones “averaged” 74.9 yds/game
I’d say relying on an “average per game” statistic is definitionally “under-rating.”
You’re talking about 18-35 yards per game difference – seems like a lot to me. I’m not saying it’s the only metric, but I also don’t think he’s any more special than he’s being “rated”.
Can’t make that move…he’s a Buckeye.
The U of M Browns fans would go nuts!
That’s some fuzzy math. I think it’s more like .6 to 7.2 yards, but whatever. The point being that nobody “rates” Hartline on par with Cruz or Jones … but your “average yards per game” stat indicates that he is. Ergo, he’s arguably under-rated.
“Scrappy” “good hands” “possession” “gym rat”
Why isnt Amendola listed here? Mark me down as a Hartline/2nd tier FA WR guy. Outside of Vincent Jackson last season, name me big money FA WRs who lived up to their contract? That list will me extremely short. History tells us spending a good amount of cap dollars on big name WRs is a failing proposition.