BROWNS SPEEDILY POSITIONING THEMSELVES ALREADY
By STEVE KING
The signing of three rookie free agents on Monday says a lot about the Browns, what they value, the positions at which they still feel they need help and how they want to build the team moving forward.
The Browns signed cornerback Jhavonte Dean, running back Trayone Gray and linebacker Willie Harvey, all of whom were tryout players at the club’s rookie minicamp last Friday-Sunday. To make room for them, the Browns released running back Darrin Hall, cornerback Ashton Lampkin and linebacker Xavier Woodson-Luster.
OK, so they signed a cornerback, running back and linebacker, and got rid of a cornerback, running back and linebacker? Yes.
The way the Browns look at it, a team can’t have enough cover corners. Even though they used their first pick in the NFL Draft to take a cornerback in Greedy Williams, they’re still trying to add to the position.
The Browns are obviously concerned that running back Duke Johnson and his displeasure in the signing of Kareem Hunt will keep him from being a happy camper. They’re going to massage Johnson’s ego in hopes that it will make the problem disappear, but if it doesn’t work, then the trading of him may end up being more than just rumors. Gray is another player to evaluate while all this is going on.
The Browns are satisfied with their line but don’t have the same comfort with the next line of their defense, the linebackers, which is why Harvey was added.
Dean and Gray are both from Miami (Fla.) and are Florida natives. All NFL general managers crave speed. It’s the biggest asset in the way the game is played today. But the Browns’ John Dorsey is extra-fanatical about it. The Hurricanes have ling been built on speed, and the state of Florida is where to find a lot of those types of players.
Now that all this has been established, let’s see how it plays out through the remainder of the spring work and training camp as the Browns put together the team they will take into 2019 regular season.
Jim Rome gives shout-out
No matter what the calendar may seem to indicate, it’s always football season, especially in NFL hotbed cities such as Cleveland.
Indeed, there is no better football city in the league than Cleveland. In fact, they’re really isn’t a city that is as good. It’s just the way it is, and Browns fans in these parts know that. They’ve known it for decades, actually.
But It’s the first full week of May now. The NFL Draft is in the rear-view mirror, and so, too, are even the rookie minicamps. Free agency is basically over.
The Major League Baseball season is starting really amp up, and the NBA playoffs are in the semifinal rounds in both conferences. With that, then, the NFL takes a little bit of a backseat in the sports landscape for one of the few times of the sports year.
So, I wasn’t at all expecting to hear what I heard on the radio coming home from work Monday afternoon. In fact, the possibility of hearing anything like it never even crossed my mind. That’s how unlikely it was.
But despite all that, there was nationally renown sports talker Jim Rome going on a minute-long rant about the Browns on his daily sports report for CBS Radio.
With an exuberant voice, he praised the Browns and their exciting prospects this season as if he were working in promotions for the team. He said he was all in on the Browns, and there could be no doubting that.
Certainly, it is still four months away from the start of the NFL regular season. There are no championships won – or lost – at this time of year.
As new Browns head coach Freddie Kitchens said in an earthy kind of way, his team hasn’t done anything yet.
I understand that he has to say that. It’s the right thing to do.
But at the same time, Kitchens hasn’t been here for that long, and the fans who have been around throughout this nightmarish expansion era, especially during the recent two-year 1-31 record, deserve the right to revel in this new-found promise and hope. They’ve earned it.
As such, enjoy, everybody! Enjoy!
