DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum Player News Continued

I remember watching his arms flailing after he hit the ground. It looked bad...

at the very least, I hope we bring him in so that Stefanski can see if he is still what he was. One thing we can feel good about, however, is that is we DON'T bring him in, it's likely that Stefanski feels he doesn't have enough left to help us. Let's face it, he was buried on the practice squad of a rather bad offense.

j/c...

Unfortunate, we needed him more than they did

Either Cook was dead-set on going to the Ravens, or Stefanski/Berry felt that he had dropped off enough since the Vikings days that he didn't offer us enough over what we have to shuffle the RB room.

If they really wanted him, they could have claimed him off waivers

Cook is a veteran (4+ years), he gets released and not waived. He cannot be claimed.

My guess would be they were the team that offered him the best chance to get a SB ring in his opinion. I have no idea if the Browns even contacted him but I would guess of the teams that did he felt strongly this gave him the best chance at a ring. It may seem superficial but I would think that would be a memory that lasts for a lifetime.

I saw this article so that is what I went by:

https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profo...n-cook-clears-waivers-becomes-free-agent

Quote from the article:
Former Jets running back Dalvin Cook has cleared waivers. He’s now a free agent, able to sign with any team at any time.

I believe that after the trade deadline all players cut go through waivers

Can’t blame Cook at all. Ravens look strong and the best bet to get a ring.

That is correct.

Ravens should be Super Bowl favs- we played them tough both times and came out smiling once......JMHO- FO messed up drafting Baylor DT in second round- he's great guy, but sucks as player- lost draft pick. Best use is plugging goal line push plays- other than that he's a waste.

j/c:




I love how Pinkston continues to rep/promote the Browns.

Other than him clearly being a coveted talent, why would we give up what it would take to land him? I thought we had the edges all squared away and need to resign pretty much the entirety of our interior line (?).

Would he be a replacement for Zadarius Smith?

Not the Browns, but still relevant ........

Steelers, QB Mitch Trubisky mutually agree to part ways ahead of free agency, per report; team cuts two others - CBSSports.com
https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/...-agency-per-report-team-cuts-two-others/


The Pittsburgh Steelers are beginning to remake their quarterback room. The Steelers and Mitch Trubisky mutually agreed to part ways ahead of free agency, per NFL Media. The team announcing his release on Monday. Per multiple reports, the team elected to make the move now in order to give Trubisky an early start to free agency.

Trubisky spent the 2022 and 2023 seasons with Pittsburgh. He began the 2022 campaign as the starter ahead of Kenny Pickett before giving way to a then-rookie Pickett four games into the year. He then served as Pickett's backup for the next year-plus before taking over under center when Pickett got injured in 2023, but Trubisky was later benched in favor of Mason Rudolph.

The former No. 2 overall pick had two years left on his contract, with base salaries of $4.25 million and $5 million coming his way. He would have counted against the cap for $7.56 million in 2024. The Steelers will save around $2.94 million if they release him right away, and $5.25 million if they designate him as a post-June 1 cut.

Pittsburgh is expected to pursue a quarterback in either free agency or the draft this offseason, and it seems highly unlikely that Pickett will be the starter in the third year of his rookie contract.

In addition to Trubisky, the Steelers also announced that they released punter Pressley Harvin III and offensive lineman Chukwuma Okorafor, who started 55 games over the last four seasons.

Mitch could be a decent back-up for us.

Dorsey should be familiar with him as they would've overlapped in Buffalo, no?

That's what I was thinking. Mitch is good enough to win a few games off the bench. Let's hope DW is healthy all season but you have to prepare. We didn't last\season but we got lucky with JF.

I don't want anybody that gets yanked for Mason Rudolph. MT was awful off the bench for the steelers.

He'd be an upgrade over what we saw from both DTR and Walker.

Exactly and he has some history, albeit not a lot, with Ken Dorsey. IF KD thinks Mitch could help I'm sure he would speak up about it.

A decent backup for our practice squad maybe. As far as him being on our active roster... ummm hell no.

A lot of posters a) have no idea what they are watching or b) only watch the Browns.

This is exhibit a.

I could see the argument for wanting DTR over someone like Trubisky. Projecting for the long term and giving him the benefit of the doubt given the situation last year.

If you're going to bat for Walker, though... you shouldn't be throwing stones like "have no idea what they are watching".

So much for DeShaun trying to recruit Tee Higgins to
Come to the Browns. Watson even fails at recruiting

Yeah it’s Watson’s fault the Bengals will franchise him.

It sounded like solid logic there. Who else's fault could it possibly be?

No but Watson looks really silly trying to recruit a player
Who had a 0.000% chance of playing for the Browns
Watson has enough of his own issues that he should
Apply his attention too instead of trying to recruit
Clemson alums.

I don't think he looked silly. In the grand scheme of things I think it's one of the least noticeable things he's done.

Sources: Franchise tags unlikely for Josh Jacobs, Saquon Barkley
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id...tags-unlikely-josh-jacobs-saquon-barkley

Josh Jacobs, Saquon Barkley and Tony Pollard are all expected to become free agents in what promises to be a star-studded running back market, sources told ESPN on Monday.

The Las Vegas Raiders will attempt to re-sign Jacobs, but they are not expected to tag him, league sources told ESPN, especially with his franchise tag costing $14,149,200.

The New York Giants will speak with Barkley and explore a deal with him, but they are also unlikely to tag him for $12,109,200, sources told ESPN.

The Dallas Cowboys are not expected to use the same $12,109,200 tag for Pollard, sources told ESPN.

EDITOR'S PICKS

NFL salary cap rises $30.6M to record $255.4M
3dDan Graziano
The Tennessee Titans won't tag standout veteran Derrick Henry, and the Los Angeles Chargers also are expected to let Austin Ekeler explore free agency, league sources told ESPN.

Other running backs scheduled to hit free agency next month include D'Andre Swift, AJ Dillon, Devin Singletary, Zack Moss, J.K. Dobbins, Gus Edwards, Ezekiel Elliott, and Clyde Edwards-Helaire.

All of this sets up an offseason that now stands in direct contrast to 2023, when three running backs -- Jacobs, Barkley and Pollard -- each received the restrictive franchise tags. This offseason, it appears no running backs will be tagged, making this one of the finest and deepest running back classes in the history of free agency, if not the best and most accomplished of all time.

While the glut of running backs will be good for teams, it might not be great for all the backs. Free agency is about supply and demand, and the supply at the position this offseason is unprecedented and could contribute to keeping down the prices in free agency, though the top stars still could land hefty paydays.

The NFL on Friday announced that its salary cap for the 2024 season will be a record $255.4 million per team -- a stunning 13.6% increase over last year's cap. That amounts to $30.6 million more per team than last year's $224.8 million.

The running back market has been a challenging one in recent years. Jonathan Taylor became the first running back since 2021 to sign a long-term contract worth at least $10 million per year when he agreed to a three-year, $42 million extension with the Indianapolis Colts last October.

This offseason, it would be a feat for one -- or some -- of these backs to command what their franchise tag number would be. Jacobs' franchise tag is higher than the normal running back tag because he had extra guaranteed money added to his adjusted deal last summer. Barkley had incentives added to his deal, but did not hit any of them.

Looks like a good crop of backs will be available.

We might look in that direction. It's not certain if Nick will be back to start the season. Ford is serviceable, but backs usually pop early in their careers, I am not sure if he is going to be a workhorse. Strong is just a guy who can be replaced by dozens.

The only problem I see is runningback is a position you don't want to get too deep in to the cap past your starter. If we go the FA route, it will have to be a fairly team friendly deal.


The ideal for teams is back is a position where you just go from guy to guy on rookie deals. If you get a good one like Nick you might extend, but as we have seen, the risk factor increases.


As the article indicates, the supply might diminish the demand, so we might be able to work a team friendly 2 years deal.

This will be an interesting free-agency season. One I think will favor Andrew Berry.

Running back is not the only position with a plethora of talent coming available. Edge rushers and defensive tackles are another position where older talent (28-32 years old) will become available on the cheap. Don't be surprised if Za'darius Smith signs a cheaper deal with Cleveland than in 2023.

Wide receivers will always be price-overinflated. I do not have high expectations for Berry signing any in the first few days. I think Berry is more likely to make a trade similar to the Moore deal.

Browns will look for specialty players. I would look for first and second-round players who did not live up to expectations. Guys who may have a smaller skill set than where they were drafted. You know like the ones the Browns used to draft, waive, and New England signed!

As much as I love Cooper - WR is one of the weakest positions on the team. Not being able to draft the position well based on recent history and not being able to sign a high quality WR or 3 in FA is not a great sign for our chances of improving that position group.

If this is the weakest position, then I feel the Browns are in great shape overall.

Having a wide receiver group that supported four different QBs, an offense with no identity, no consistency, played in multiple offensive schemes throughout the year, and enough diversity to produce average play having a minimal run game and OT support I am good with this group.

This receiver group is designed to play both 11 and 12-personnel. I would like to see stronger depth, improvement in the red zone, and a speed receiver to stretch the field.

As far as drafting, it appears so far Anthony Swartz did not pan out. Too bad too, because, speed is the missing piece to having a complete receiver skill set.

Having a receiver corp similar to Cincy is difficult to maintain. Injuries greatly reduce the effectiveness and reduce the cap allowance for other positions. In Cincy's case, they have less talent on their offensive line.