DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum The Browns Front Office....still not ready for prime time..(imo)

has anyone seen how Schwartz has played thus far? I genuinely haven't noticed. Can't be much worse than our RT lol

So mac, are you ok with taking the blame away from the new FO re: Alex Mack knowing this? I mean if Terry wrote it, it's gotta be true, right?

Well that's a fresh new take. Maybe if you'd said it like that before, I might have been able to relate more.

memp...I've been very consistent on Alex Mack...once he opted out, WHAT DID THE FRONT OFFICE DO TO RETAIN MACK?

Unless you can find an offer from Sashi and Depo after Mack opted out on March 2nd, the Browns didn't try to keep Mack after he opted out.

Alex Mack Opts Out of Contract With Cleveland Browns

By Chris Pokorny @DawgsByNature Mar 2, 2016, 2:05p

Alex Mack has officially opted out of his contract with the Cleveland Browns, as first reported by Mike Garafolo of FOX Sports:

Mike Garafolo ✔@MikeGarafolo
Browns C Alex Mack has voided the final 3 years of his deal, source says. Will be a free agent next week but return to CLE still possible.
12:41 PM - 2 Mar 2016

Mack had until March 4th to make a decision, but ended up doing so two days early. Why? Garafolo says it is so the team could not use a franchise or transition tag on him again -- the deadline in doing that passed at 4 PM ET on March 1st. As for why he's opting out on March 2nd instead of March 4th, if he's seeking the most lucrative offer possible, it makes sense to give the rest of the NFL a couple more days to include Mack in their free agency plans.

Despite opting out, Garafolo and others -- including ESPN's Adam Schefter -- are hearing that Mack could very well still return to Cleveland if they are willing to pay up to make him the highest-paid center in the NFL:

Adam Schefter ✔@AdamSchefter
Alex Mack had 3 years, $24M remaining on deal and could once again become NFL's highest paid C. Return to Cleveland still "very possible."
12:46 PM - 2 Mar 2016

It makes sense for Mack to opt out because he only had $8 million guaranteed over the final three years of his deal. That means that a serious injury in 2016 could've cost him a ton of money in the long haul. Now, with a new deal in Cleveland or somewhere else, he'll get that financial security long-term again. If he's trying to beat deals that recent centers got, he might be seeking up to a 5-year, $50 million deal with half of it guaranteed.

Mack cannot sign a new deal until free agency begins on March 9th at 4 PM ET, when the new league year begins. He and the Browns can still work toward agreeing to terms on a new deal in the mean time, while other teams can begin negotiating with his agent on March 7th.
link

memp...while Mack and his agent left the door open for a return to Cleveland, the Browns would need to make Mack a better offer than what remained on the contract he opted out of.

Per year money and guaranteed money were factors...two areas the Browns had to compete in if they wanted Mack to stay...

I'm not aware of any offer the Browns might have made to Mack once he opted out and other teams could bid for Mack's services.

Not well but I'd take him over what we have.

They aren't coming back, guys. Jeez.

Take note of the paragraph in RED, toward the bottom of this story.



Cleveland Browns take steps forward in loss and Cody Kessler is 'conservative, unremarkable' in debut: National Perspective


By Chris Fedor, cleveland.com
Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on September 26, 2016 at 10:30 AM, updated September 26, 2016 at 10:34 AM
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CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The wounded Cleveland Browns had a chance to win late in the game for the second straight week. And yet, they found a way to lose once again.

This time, it wasn't a questionable penalty or an interception that derailed their chances. It was their kicker, as recently-signed Cody Parkey missed the game-winner, sending the contest into overtime where the Browns' lost to the struggling Miami Dolphins, 30-24.

Here is a gathering of thoughts on the Browns from national writers and analysts:

CBS Sports hands out grades for every Week 3 game and despite a third consecutive loss, the Browns and rookie quarterback Cody Kessler fare pretty well.

"If the Browns were going to lose on Sunday, most people thought it would be because Cody Kessler threw seven interceptions. After all, the rookie quarterback was making the first start of his career. That didn't happen though. There was no meltdown from Kessler, who actually played well in Miami. The rookie quarterback went 21 of 33 for 244 yards and didn't turn the ball over at all during the game.

What Kessler did do though, was give the Browns a chance to win. With the Browns trailing 24-13 in the fourth quarter, Kessler engineered an 11-point comeback with two impressive drives in the fourth quarter that both went over 70 yards.

Hue Jackson is probably never going to attempt a field goal ever again after what happened to his team in Miami. Also, don't be surprised if Terrelle Pryor plays every single position on the field next week because apparently, he's good at everything. Grade: B-"

According to Pro Football Focus, Pryor (85.7 grade) deserves a game ball for his jack-of-all-trades performance while building on the preseason hype.

Tight end Gary Barnidge (81.7), left tackle Joe Thomas (80.2), left guard Joel Bitonio (77.0) and running back Isaiah Crowell (76.1) round out the site's five best offensive players from yesterday.

But how about Kessler's debut? It was "conservative and unremarkable but might be just what Browns need."

"While the Browns would substitute Terrelle Pryor in on several drives, Kessler wound up taking 36 dropbacks for a franchise reeling from the loss of its primary and secondary options. Kessler completed 16-of-20 aimed passes under 10 yards and, surprisingly, completed five-of-seven beyond 10 yards. The rookie quarterback from USC would top all quarterbacks from the 1 p.m. games with an adjusted completion percentage of 81.8 percent. With Josh McCown unlikely to play in Week 4 at Washington, Kessler could begin to solidify his job leading the Cleveland offense with another solid showing. Grade: 65.6."

Don Banks, formerly of Sports Illustrated, is contributing to NFL.com, writing his customary "Snap Judgments" about the league, including a snippet about the Browns' loss.

"The injury-decimated Browns played with a lot of pluck, climbing out of a 24-13 fourth-quarter deficit, but alas, it was another physical setback that helped produce this loss. Parkey missed three field goals, after being signed on Saturday to replace the injured Patrick Murray, who hurt himself in Friday's walk-through practice.

All you need to know about the Browns so far in 2016 was summed up wordlessly in that shot of both Josh McCown and Robert Griffin III standing on the Cleveland sideline on Sunday, with their left arms in matching black slings. A stylized version of that image should probably be the team's new logo."

Monday Morning Quarterback's Peter King doesn't pen much about the Browns. He has a nugget about Bill Belichick's place in NFL history, ranking second after Paul Brown.

King also calls Parkey the "Special Teams Goat of the Week" after his trio of missed field goals.

The other time the Browns are mentioned by King? When he praises the hot start of Philadelphia quarterback Carson Wentz. That's the telling view of Cleveland through three weeks.

"This has been an absurd ride so far. Wentz and the Eagles 34, Big Ben and the Steelers 3. The guy who was supposed to redshirt this season, the guy who wouldn't be playing right now if Teddy Bridgewater hadn't suffered a freak injury last month, 1,170 miles away, the guy who has every downtrodden fan in Cleveland vomiting (again) this morning because the Browns gave away the chance to draft him ... that guy is 3-0, with the wins coming by 19, 15 and 31 points, and just when is construction beginning on that statue, Sal?

Six months ago this week the Eagles locked onto Wentz. They told no one. But they spent a day and a half in Fargo at North Dakota State—on the practice field, in the classroom (for three hours) and out to dinner—and Philly's staid offensive coordinator, Frank Reich, was reaching for the right word after Sunday's game about that 36 hours studying Wentz."

ESPN's Pat McManamon believes the Browns took steps forward in the loss against the Dolphins.


Armando Salguero spoke about the Browns' kicking situation. He talks about how Parkey wasn't everyone's first choice and how the decision to take the cheap route cost the team.

"True story: After the game, league sources said Browns special teams coach Chris Tabor wanted his team to sign free agent kicker Robbie Gould on Friday when Cleveland's first-string kicker Patrick Murray sustained a knee injury. But Browns management decided Gould is too expensive and so they went with Parkey — who practically single-handedly lost the game for them."

Oh I agree with the cheap part bro.

But other than Schwartz, those other guys were gonna walk no matter what we offered them.

And reading the KC board, Schwartz isn't exactly giving these guys warm and fuzzies either.

His 5 penalties were not good, admittedly. However, we had 430 net yards of offense yesterday, and to imply that Pasztor, and the Oline in general, is poor, is simply ignoring their contribution to that total...

It's not even a whole year bro. Just give it time.

How in the hell is he rated so high?

shut up banner ... he revels in our misery

WHAT IS A "WIN" WORTH TO THOSE RUNNING THE BROWNS?

Did Browns’ Moneyball guys nix plan to sign Robbie Gould?

Posted by Michael David Smith on September 26, 2016, 10:43 AM EDT
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On Friday, the Browns lost kicker Patrick Murray to a knee injury suffered in practice. On Sunday, the Browns lost in overtime after replacement kicker Cody Parkey missed three field goals, one of which would have won the game as time expired in the fourth quarter.

That raised questions about why the Browns chose Parkey over Robbie Gould, a free agent who has a good track record of kicking well for the Bears. And according to the Miami Herald, Gould is the kicker that Browns special teams coach Chris Tabor wanted to sign — except that the front office nixed the plan, saying Gould would cost more than Parkey. Gould has played 11 NFL seasons and Parkey is in his third, which means the minimum salary to sign Gould would be about half a million dollars more than the Browns are paying Parkey.

Cap space isn’t really an issue for the Browns right now, as they lead the league with $48 million available. Still, the Browns have made no secret that their front office will take a Moneyball approach, and they may see kickers as largely interchangeable and not worth a lot of money. (The Browns also made a move at punter that saved money a few weeks ago, trading away Andy Lee and signing the less expensive Britton Colquitt.)

However, the Browns are pushing back against that report, with a team source insisting to the Akron Beacon Journal that money isn’t the reason they signed Parkey over Gould.

“Money played no role in the decision,” the Browns source said. “It’s ridiculous to think that it would.”

Whatever the reasons that Parkey is the Browns’ kicker, the fact is that he missed field goals of 42, 46 and 41 yards on Sunday. Gould’s track record suggests he probably would have made at least one of those field goals, and if any one of them had been good, the Browns would have won in regulation instead of losing in overtime.

I trust Nate Ulrich over anybody when it comes to the Browns.

So is trolling the front office

I believe I can flyyyyyyyy!

I believe I can touch the sky.

I think about it every night and day.

Spread my wings and fly away.

They are being run on the cheap to specifically torment you and allow these threads to continue even though everything has been rehashed ad nauseam.

The fine is nothing to Haslam. He is worth 3.7 billion - you don't think the NFL checked his finances before letting him buy a team?!? The 148M you mention above is 4% of his net worth, sure it hurts, but it won't break him anytime soon. Dee is worth 1.8 billion as well, I'm sure she'd help in a financial crisis, lol.

Browns source says money played no role in decision to sign K Cody Parkey instead of Robbie Gould


By NATE ULRICH Published: September 26, 2016
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A Browns source said money wasn't a factor in the franchise's decision to sign Cody Parkey over the weekend instead of fellow kicker Robbie Gould.

The Miami Herald cited NFL sources who said Browns special teams coordinator Chris Tabor wanted his team to sign Gould after Patrick Murray suffered a left knee injury in Friday's walk-through practice, but the front office decided Gould was too expensive and went with Parkey instead.

"Money played no role in the decision," the Browns source said Monday morning. "It's ridiculous to think that it would."

Parkey went 3-of-6 on field goals Sunday in a 30-24 overtime loss to the Miami Dolphins. He missed attempts of 41, 42 and 46 yards. The miss from 46 yards came with no time left in regulation, and the Browns would have won 27-24 if he had made it.

Parkey signed a one-year, $525,000 contract, according to Spotrac.com. Gould would make $985,000 under the minimum salary for veterans with 10 or more credited seasons. Of course, Gould's asking price could be higher than the minimum.

The Browns have $57,309,161 in salary-cap space, according to the NFL Players Association.

The Browns source said the team chose to sign Parkey because he's young and made the Pro Bowl with the Philadelphia Eagles as a rookie in 2014.

The organization's thought was Parkey, if successful, could be a part of its future because he's only 24. Parkey missed most of last season with a groin injury and lost a duel this year in Eagles training camp to Caleb Sturgis.

Gould, 34, was cut by the Chicago Bears on Sept. 4 after spending 11 seasons as their kicker. He made the Pro Bowl in 2006.

Not to mention that the team itself brought in $347M in revenue last year.

http://www.forbes.com/teams/cleveland-browns/

So you can say, with 100% certainty, that the other kicker would have made the kicks?


OMG!!! I hope he put that in his budget for the year! Those kinds of expenses can really creep up on you.

"The Truth" "The Truth" Some can't handle the truth.

"For four years it seemed"

"It seemed" The reason, as Daman acknowledges, is because most every guy still left, who The Crown Prince of the Thread Hijack has not run off the board, most every guy (90%) "it seemed to me" was probably guilty of being the ones who constantly, consistently trashed Schwartz. But, we will pretend. Its what we do.

I know that Mack apologists will take offense to my post. That's Ok. I realize there are two agendas on this topic. At least you're being consistent.

I will repeat my final point, so I can be "appropriately" challenged on it. "Our offensive line sucked last year." It sucked. Sucked! Sorry if that conflicts with anyone's agenda. At least this year we have runblocked well at times. Last year we were beaten up.

Challenge that!

mac, what is your end goal for this topic? What does it accomplish? So you want to reboot again before this FO has a year?

I have to kind of agree here, the general consensus on the board was that our line stunk last year despite what 'ratings' any websites ranked them at. I mean did we not have QBs get hurt last year?

1. There are conflicting reports on whether they "went cheap" on a kicker.

2. The kicker they did sign had a very good track record before his injury and was cheaper. Wouldn't it make it sense to sign a player that is good and cheaper than the alternative option(s)?

3. Is it possible that the front office just doesn't want to pay any significant amount of money for a kicker because they don't value the position and Haslam had nothing to do with the decision?

I disagree that most thought the line sucked last year. I think people knew what they had in Thomas and Mack and loved what they saw out of Bitonio in his rookie year.

I will say that many, many posters hated on Schwartz during his entire four years here. Partly because it was agenda-based for not liking Heckert and but also because he was compared to Joe Thomas at every turn. He was continuously called the weakest link on the line, which wasn't true and got better each year as a Brown. The only time I thought he struggled (even just a little) was in Norv's offense that had more seven step drops and time needed for deep routes to develop....but that would go for any lineman, really.

I may have overstated it...but there was a decent enough group that complained about the line. I wouldn't be surprised if they are the same ones bitching about this FO not resigning Mack and Schwartz (I didn't and won't keep track of who is bitching about what).

This whole thread feels agenda driven, mac is looking for any sort of reason to find flaws. Its what drives me crazy about this message board, everyone is so quick to declare pass or fail on anything.

Sorry I am not sure how to embed this one, but it is worth clicking.

Mac gets the reports from the game

Post of the year.


....."I'll be a Yinzer."

So you don't know what Moneyball is?