DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum Off-season player movement

Pet peeve:

Re-sign = I want to re-sign David Njoku.
Resign = I wish Hue Jackson would resign because he is a terrible coach.

They could designate Hooper a June 1st cut and cut him anytime. They don’t have to wait until June 1st.

Higgins is a free agent. There is no need (or ability) to cut him.

Hooper's numbers are 13.25M cap hit if we keep him, 11.25 dead cap (one year) if we cut him (per spotrac). If we were to designate him as post June 1 - it'd be 5.625m dead cap in 2022 and 5.625m dead cap in 2023. Basically we save 2m by cutting him in 2022 (more if we designate post June 1, but have dead cap next year)

I agree Hooper is likely gone. I also agree on Njoku and Ward. With Clowney - I'd be surprised if he signed elsewhere unless it was a big difference - he had his best (and healthiest) year in quite a while and has a good thing with Myles on the other side.

Schwartz is a guy I expect to take a big leap in 2022. DPJ is possibly on his last leg. I could potentially see an almost entire new group for Baker led by a FA, a draft pick and Schwartz starting. DPJ could be that guy also but he needs to keep improving.

Schwartz does make me nervous however, due to the time he stopped his route feeling heat and causing an interception.

I also expect a lot of concern from people to be that we won't look as good on paper as we did last year, but I 100% believe our passing game will be much improved and I don't even know who the WR or TE will be, but I have confidence in the guys upstairs to get out right.

j/c:

Franchise tag candidates for all 32 NFL teams entering the 2022 NFL offseason

CLEVELAND BROWNS: TE DAVID NJOKU
2021 overall grade: 70.9
Projected franchise tag number: $10,931,000

Njoku had a more efficient contract year than Hunter Henry and Jonnu Smith in 2020, posting higher yards per route run (1.56) and more yards gained after contact (138) on fewer receptions than Henry or Smith. Coming off the fifth-year option, Njoku will still only be 26 years old in 2021 and has shown several flashes of being a quality tight end. Cleveland may feel inclined to use the franchise tag while working towards a multi-year agreement.
https://www.pff.com/news/nfl-franchise-tag-candidates-32-nfl-teams-2022-nfl-free-agency

We better have one hell of a plan if we're cutting what little vet talent we have in the WR room for cap savings.

j/c:

How many QBs started out as not-good as MT has and been able to rise to starter level after their 1st stint?

and on that note, today is the start of the Tagging period.

February 22-March 8: NFL clubs may designate Franchise or Transition Players.

I would think Clowney and Njoku are both under consideration for the franchise tag.

j/c:

I could see Rudolph as an option if/when we cut Hooper.

j/c:



Mayfield, Ohio's own.

No thanks. Way too small to open windows on a regular basis. He has 426 yds and 3 TD in three seasons... and over 20% of that productivity came on one play.

I'm not advocating we trade for him. And would most certainly be a depth guy no matter where he goes.

Might be worth having if only as PR/KR.

Source: #Browns sniffed around the idea of trading for #Cardinals WR Andy Isabella last deadline. Isabella now has permission to seek a trade. I’m told Cleveland is still likely interested.
https://twitter.com/StainbrookNFL/status/1499078467547242500

And something to keep in mind. I believe there have been two reported instances since Berry took over as GM that when it became known the Browns actively pursued a guy but didn't/couldn't get him, Berry got them the following year. It was Takk McKinley and Jadeveon Clowney. We'll see if this holds true w/ Isabella. The only difference is that the former two players were FA at the time. Isabella is not.

Re: Higgins

I'm not sure I ever grasped what was going on behind the scenes with him and the coaching staff's reluctance to play him a bit more.

By coaching staffs do you mean all the coaching staffs he ever played under?

Maybe I put the apostrophe in the wrong place. ( Staff's vs. staffs' reluctance). Oh well.

I was referring to why he didn't seem to get more playing time from any Brown's coaching staff.

I was joking because he has been buried by multiple coaching staffs.

Keenum needs to go if we're not going to use him. Far too much money for a bench seat.
Higgins probably needs to go, too. Whatever the deal is, he just doesn't get on the field or produce much when he does. It's a roster spot that needs to produce more.

Harrison... it sucks to lose him, but he's going to want more money that we're likely to pay for a 3rd Safety.

Njoku

If the Brown's are not going to play a dedicated TE (like a Kelce or Kittle) then you cannot justify paying your TE's dedicated money. Hooper's contract is already overpriced due to this scheme Stefanski is hell bent on playing. The problem lies with the dead cap money. No matter how you look at it, either a pre or post June 1 cut, it's going to cost the Brown's TE room approximately 11 million either this year or spread out over the next 2 years. Considering the targets were basically split between them, Njoku 36/475/4 and Hooper 38/345/3, there's no justification for either one of the guys getting paid more in 2022 than Kelce is in KCC (8.886M in 2022). Franchise Tagging Njoku at 10.5M is just as stupid as continuing to pay Hooper especially if they have to split the receptions.

Now people will say that Njoku has a higher upside. Pundits will say - show me where he's shown that upside stat wise the last 5 years that makes you think he's due a Kelce type contract. Hooper supporters could say how do you know his value to the team if you're going to cut his targets over 30% since the Browns signed him.

Bottomline - if the Browns cut Hooper and sign Njoku to a let's say 3-years for 30M - the Browns would be basically paying Njoku over 21M for his services in 2022 - REALLY? If they keep both then that would mean the Browns would have over 22M invested in the TE position in 2022 before factoring in Bryant. Letting Njoku walk, keeping Hooper & Bryant and drafting a 4th or 5th round TE would get the Browns TE room salary more in line with what it should be. Signing Njoku to a similar deal as Hooper is sitting on would just be ignorant at this point with so many key positions to fill and/or upgrade. Besides, if you're going to run 2 TE sets and split the targets - neither one of them have contracts that are justified. Kinda stuck with Hooper, don't make it worse giving Njoku the same type of deal.

Rich Gannon

Drew Brees

Both Gannon and Brees where much better than Trubisky early in their careers.

Brees

What was the most important factor in the Brees development? San Diego played a scheme that Brees needed to adjust to but drafted Rivers who fit their scheme better and New Orleans and Payton built their offense around the skill set that Brees exhibited in college. Two things become critical in the development of a QB at the NFL level that most teams miss. Having an offensive line that can protect the franchise QB and running a scheme that takes advantage of the skill set of the QB. 70% of the time, the vast majority of QB's entering the NFL always have to deal with a poor line and never have the opportunity to develop because they consistently invest in the skilled positions before the line. The other 30% of the time the team drafts a QB to play in a scheme that they have never been subjected to. For over 2 decades, the Browns consistently failed on part A. Finally, that has been addressed by the Browns front office. The Browns are still failing at part B and by all indications still searching for that scheme QB rather than a skill set player. Problem is that with the scheme QB, you are always looking for that guy that can take the team to the next level but never find him because the scheme always takes priority over the skill set you're searching for to no avail.

I've always rooted for Hubbard after he restructured and became our 6th Oline, but this is surprising if true.

if true

Well, the team doesn't really know if Conklin will be at 100% at the start of the season, Hudson and Vance have been underwhelming, he knows the offense, and apparently is a good presence in the locker room. But that all said, he has sucked for us too.

I thought Hudson came on well enough at the end of the season, all things considered (he was a rookie, and the season was kind of a disaster). I'm just surprised because I thought Hubbard's injuries alone stamped his ticket off the roster, let alone having to re-sign him. I also imagine that the FO is looking to save some salary, so having a younger guy as their 6th is probably what they're shooting for.

Ditto to all of that. I thought based on age, cost, injuries, etc.. that there was zero chance we re-sign Hubbs.

I suppose this speaks strongly as to what we think of what's going to hit the market in two weeks. The market is kinda empty.

If he can play at 90% of what he was, I'm all for this, and it relieves a LOT of worries about our OT spots.

My guess is we’ll get him on a cheap one year deal and if he’s not all the way back and/or Hudson takes a big leap he’ll be cut.