Browns free agency moves – What should they do?

By STEVE KING

There’s so much talk already about what the Browns – and all the other teams – will do in the NFL Draft.

Draft discussion has been going on for a long time, actually.

It’s always that way with the draft. The NFL is the only pro sport where there’s a sport – the draft — within the sport.

But before – way before – the draft on the NFL calendar is free agency. It’s not half the puzzle in building a team, for it will never supersede the draft, but free agency is nonetheless a good portion of it.

With that, Sports Illustrated – the magazine and its website, si.com – came out with a piece by Andy Benoit of the Monday Morning Quarterback staffers looking at all 32 teams, their available salary cap monies and what their primary needs are.

According to Benoit, the Browns once again have plenty to spend, $80.1 million. He says they should spend some of it on an edge pass rusher, since, in his estimation, that is their primary need. I agree.

Benoit also has an interesting thought about Myles Garrett. Here’s what he wrote:

Defensive end Myles Garrett is living up to his promise as the No. 1 pick in 2017, but the Rams’ Aaron Donald and the Eagles’ Fletcher Cox have shown that it’s harder to double-team a great inside pass rusher than a great outsider pass rusher. Garrett, with his quick, violent hands and explosive movement, can be the AFC’s top interior rusher. But to move him there, the Browns need a couple of more natural edge rushers.”

The best potential free-agent signing for the Browns? Frank Clark of the Seattle Seahawks, according to Benoit. The 6-foot-3, 265-pound Clark, from Cleveland Glenville High School and Michigan, is considered among the top 10 potential free agents who will be available. A 2015 second-round draft pick, at No. 63 overall, of the Seahawks, he has had a whopping total of 36 sacks in his four seasons. That type of player would help the Browns immeasurably.

We’ll see what happens – pretty soon, in fact, since free agency starts in almost exactly a month, on March 13.