NFL Free Agency: Browns Ink Veteran John St. Clair to Three-Year Deal
Written By: Scott | Category: General | Comments: 27
With the future of Ryan Tucker still in limbo and Kevin Shaffer having been released, the Cleveland Browns have added veteran offensive lineman John St. Clair. Flashy he is not, but the front office was quick to point out his much-lauded versatility with their press release.
Playing for the Chicago Bears last season, St. Clair suited up for all 16 games; undoubtedly a plus with a team that seems to get obliterated by injuries every season. An even bigger plus is the fact that he played both tackle positions as well as left guard. To add to the mix, St. Clair was actually an All-American center during his days at Virginia, where he was also a very solid student – for what it is worth.
On the down side, St. Clair is two years older than the released Shaffer, and is ranked a few spots below our former right tackle per Scout.com so this is not exactly an upgrade in talent. However, while Shaffer was inked to a deal that guaranteed him $12 million when Phil Savage signed him out of Atlanta, St. Clair (though technically signed to a $9 million deal) is only guaranteed $1.25 million – less than the $1.455 million in cap space that the Browns gained when releasing Shaffer. Plus, he’s someone that the Bears actually wanted back as opposed to being some castoff that we just happened to scoop up like a catfish.
Is he in-prime Orlando Pace? Not likely. But as long as he doesn’t get driven back into the quarterback, resulting in an interception returned for a touchdown, he may be worth the $1.25 million. Notice that while his precessor was big on roster bonuses and guaranteed front-end money, George Kokinis did not go that route with this piece of the puzzle.
In terms of position, I would look for St. Clair to be our starting right tackle unless we land a stud OL in the draft. The recently acquired Floyd “Pork Chop” Womack and the abovementioned Tucker will likely split time at the right guard spot.
And this signing may effectively put a final nail in the coffin of the news that the Browns were attempting to re-sign Shaffer to a new contract. If he didn’t like being moved to right tackle with Joe Smith Thomas’ addition, he most definitely will not like splitting time with St. Clair.
As an added bonus, the picture above is of St. Clair actually recording a touchdown reception; something that Browns fans haven’t seen since Brady Quinn hit Kellen Winslow for a five-yarder on November 6th. Take it all in, folks.
Author: Scott
Scott is a co-founder/editor of Waiting For Next Year who resides in Cleveland, Ohio. Feel free to follow him on Twitter or email him at scott@waitingfornextyear.com.Scott has written 2013 articles for Waiting for Next Year.
not to be picky, but 2nd to last paragraph should be Joe Thomas.
I know because the Indians and Cavs each have a Joe Smith, you wanted the browns to make it a clean sweep…
Head is definitely in a Cavs mode today…thanks.
as it should be! we are #1 in the league!!
Thanks Scott.
He looks like a real athletic specimen. Can’t wait to see him in action!
Super Bowl! Super Bowl! Super Bowl!!
uh…
5-11!! 5-11!! 5-11!!
So you’re saying he’s the athletic, mean replacement for K2 we were all looking for?
Finally!
I hate to fuel his fire, but I have to admit the lack of a voice from the organization is affecting me.
I’m not excited by anything that has happened starting with the firing of Savage. There is no direction to the team, so why should I care what they sign? I would like to know we are headed somewhere, and the the fact that we’re not just increases my apathy everyday.
Go Cavs!!!
Love the signing! A hardworking lineman that’s not overpaid. Keep adding guys like this that fit the system and we’ll be in the playoffs in no time.
What do the browns have as their OL? I see Thomas, Steinbach, Fraley, “Prokchop” (who I see getting in fights with Rogers in the food line), and now St. Clair. With Tucker still a question mark, who else is there to back-up when one of these guys gets hurt?
There is NO lack of voice! It’s obvious that the browns are bringing hardworking, no horseplay, keep you mouth shut kind of guys into town.
They are building a team the way it needs to be built with solid players that fit your system. If a guy doesn’t fit your style he’s worthless to you. Look at what Belickeck has doen in NE…guys come and go, but they are all Hardworking no nonsense kinds of guys that fit his system. If they don’t conform then they are gone.
Mangini started to do this in New York, until the men in charge crammed Farve down his throat. ( a guy that didn’t fit the system at all!)
Look around the league and you’ll see that the teams that win are filled with a bunch of this type of player who knows thier role and shuts their mouth. (Pittsburgh, Indy, Giants, ect.)
I don’t share the doom and gloom that far to many of you do…Mangini IS the best coach we have had since our return.
As for the CAVS…LOVE THEM, and your right we really should be Cavs focus right now, as they are dominating! (Look at how they did it by the way..find your roleplayers who keep thier mouths shut and do thier jobs!….AKA what Mangini is doing to the browns right now) GO CAVS!!!
Not only do we possibly want to be a power-running team, but Mangini might want to change the type of OL that we have.
Romeo was more about the finesse, technically-efficient guys on the left side, and power on the right (Belicheck style). Perhaps Mangini is more like Parcells in wanting power from all positions on the OL (with LT being the exception of needing a guy that can handle the speed rushers).
If we take that leap, then it is possible for a complete change in or OL this year…Fraley no longer fits as a starting OC, and, most importantly, Steinbach doesn’t fit as a starting LG.
I love Steiny, but if we do want more power, then perhaps St. Clair is brought in for a possible LG, so we can shift Steiny to OC where he would be a significant upgrade to Fraley?
LT J. Thomas
LG St. Clair
C Steinbach
RG Hadnot/Womack (or whoever else steps up and takes it)
RT Tucker
Just a thought.
more detailed info on what I hinted at above:
it depends on the scheme of whether or not Steinbach would fit in as a run blocking RG.
Here are the main ones I see in the NFL (and there are a million variations on each, but I’m giving the main ones that I see)
Denver/Atlanta Zone-blocking – all about giving your OL the angle on the block and you do it by blocking a specific space instead of man. Also, these teams tend to do a bunch of quick-pulls so that the defense has a tougher time reading the OL assignments.
Parcells power scheme – assignment based blocking where the OL is required to be able to maul the man regardless of the angle. You need bigger more powerful OL to accomplish this and because of that, you don’t pull as often.
Joe Gibbs System – this one has a lot of tackle pulls along with guards…using slot-backs instead of TE’s…et cetera. You need a highly athletic OL to pull this off where they can run as well as take on a man at the point of attack. Toughest scheme to pull off because everyone on the OL needs to have a complete skillset.
Bill Walsh System – this is where you have the more finesse guys on the left hand side and the power guys on the right. The LG may pull a lot to give even more of an overload to the right and generally the TE. The LG also needs to be an outstanding pass-blocker because he will get left on an island with the middle rusher most often (to protect the power RG from getting beat to the inside).
The Bill Walsh system is what Cincinatti used when Steinbach was there and we ran a variation of it with Romeo as well. It fits Steinbach’s skillset the best because he is a great pass-blocker and can move around alot on run blocking to open holes (even when we run left, we tried to make sure Steiny had a good angle on the block…using Vickers/Fraley combos to pickup the harder angle guys).
Now, if we are to believe we are going to a Parcell’s system..then, Steinbach fits in more as an OC where he will control the assignments on blocking and usually have a good angle on the blocks (and when he doesn’t, he’ll get double-team help).
Hope that helps.
Can Steinbach play C? He is versatile I know, but you can’t just switch to C without any experience, its a position where you have to be able to read defensive schemes and call out assignments. Someone who has played guard/tackle his whole career wouldn’t be able to make that switch.
My roommate is a Bears fan, and when I asked him about St. Clair he said he was good at RT but not as good at other positions, but overall he was disappointed to see him go. So there’s that crack analysis from my roommate
As for Bobby’s question, there is still a good chance we draft a lineman somewhere in the draft, possibly later rather than sooner, but I hope its common sense to Mangini that youth and depth at the OL is very important
An absolute joke of a signing, a literal fat slob who is 31 years old and have started something like 47 games in all of that time. A tremendous addition to the bevy of 31 year old washed out castoffs that is building upon. You can talk it away all you want-the fact is the Bears offered $4.5M over three years and the Browns $9M; if he stays on the team for 2/3 years he gets all or a majority of that cash. These guys not only lack talent but lack the ability to even play on the field long enough to merit the cash they are getting.
Buy it if you like, along with the alarming nothing coming out of organization in regards to communication. Enjoy!
Anyone that thinks a guy can just instantly start playing center has never played the position…
Aside from snapping the ball, recognizing blitz packages and such that has already been mentioned- what about monster NTs? Steinbach is not great against the bigger more physical d-linemen. Watching training camp last year I can assure you that guys like Rogers eat him alive.
Steinbach has experience at center.
mgbode-this isn’t the Parcells system, the Belicheck system, or any other such thing. It’s a Mangini wannabe system.
Can you name me another mentor/”disciple” relationship where the mentor hates and won’t speak to the disciple? Just one example??
but let me know how you really feel Randy.
I don’t care who Mangini drinks with in the offseason, I am just talking about OL schemes…nothing more here.
Belicheck runs a Bill Walsh style blocking scheme.
Parcells ran the old-school power attack.
Mangini claimed to want to run a Parcell’s power style system in NY, but Tannenbaum gave him guys that fit the Walsh system better, so he ran that.
I am with LeBrown on this one. Good signing. An inexpensive, versatile lineman with a lot of experience is never a bad thing. NEVER. The players they have brought in are not guys who are going to make highlight reels every game, but they’re serviceable players that we’re getting for a good price.
Randy is quick to bash the new coaching regime for apparently every move they have made this offseason. That begs the question: Who could we have signed that you would have deemed a good addition, Randy?
Randy is like someone who wants President Obama to fail just because he didn’t vote for him or doesn’t like him. So what if that means the country is still in the toilet? He gets to puff his chest out and say, “I told you so” after it’s all over.
Although I’m not screaming at EVERY move by the Browns like Randy, but I do find it strange that they haven’t had 1 press conference at all. Maybe Grossi is the reason. I mean that guy is 1. A terrible writer. and 2. HATES the new Front Office.
A guy here in my office just said that he heard on AM 1100 that the browns are trading from Chris Cooley
The Skins would NEVER give up Cooley – he’s their most popular player by LIGHT YEARS. If that happens, I’ll be sooooooooo pumped.
He’s a great, great TE.
IRB, I was thinking the same (that they wouldnt part with Cooley) but Snyder is always wheeling and dealing and maybe would be trying to free up some additional cap space from the Haynesworth addition.
If this were true, I could see an Edwards for Cooley and a 3rd rd pick (at best).
One thing that Wash does not have is a goto WR. Do any of there WR’s even stand at 6ft?
DP said it best about Randy, he likes no moves and would do everything differently. On a forum he’d basically be a troll.
I love this move personally. A solid lineman who is durable, thank you sir may I have another? Let me say it again DURABLE, something our line hasn’t been…well…ever since we came back?
It would be ironic to trade for Cooley, since Royal left DC with the emergence of Cooley. Though I don’t see them actually pulling the trigger, especially if their third rounder was involved since they already traded their second rounder to Miami for a player who isn’t even on the team anymore.
@ Randy
ummm.. Belicheck-Parcells for starters…. Bill Walsh and Paul Brown as well.