DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum C Hank Fraley will test the market Among other Browns..

Browns | Fraley to test market as free agent
Wed, 28 Feb 2007 08:45:09 -0800 KFFL.com

Patrick McManamon, of the Akron Beacon Journal, reports Cleveland Browns pending free agent C Hank Fraley will test the market.


Browns | Coleman to test market as free agent
Wed, 28 Feb 2007 08:42:55 -0800

Patrick McManamon, of the Akron Beacon Journal, reports Cleveland Browns pending free agent OG Cosey Coleman will test the market.


Browns | McKinley to test market as free agent
Wed, 28 Feb 2007 08:40:38 -0800

Patrick McManamon, of the Akron Beacon Journal, reports Cleveland Browns pending free agent DE Alvin McKinley will test the market.

Russell as well.. Not real new news but looks like no deal has been done for our center... Savage must have something up his sleeve ?

Fraley must stay. Get it done Phil...

That MAY be true, but as of now it isn't. There is hope on Hank's end that something happens today.

I have to agree with Phil Savage on everyone except Fraely...that may just be my O-line paranoya setting in though.

Gotta keep Hank here. He's key to the success of the OLine next year. Let Coleman walk

I agree, I am a Rusell and Coleman hater....

Mckinley, eh who really cares he isn't good that good anyway...

Jeez Pat Mac reported he's testing the market. Calm down people. Hank would be an idiot to not see what the market will pay to see what to make us pay. It could even be against the rules for the Browns to call another team and ask what they offered. I think he wants to stay, and he's going to find out his market value. I see nothing else at the moment to make me think otherwise. Could he sign elsewhere???? sure......Could Phil have a plan A and a plan B?/??? sure. Still at this point it's all just hysterical speculation. At the moment everything is pointing at us spending a TON of money for some FAs. I don't see Phil not spending some coin on a Center and Hanks makes the most sense for us at that spot. I agree with someone else as well that Hank may be looking for a deal with more years than what we are currently offerring....or not offerring (isn't it against the rules to offer an actual dollar amount until Friday? Please let us know!)

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Phil would not let Fraley walk away if he were afraid that a better player could not be found. He must have a plan.

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Some of his past plans were Shelton, Druzzi, and Coleman. Not really looking forward to seeing his next plan.

Not for nothing,, But just last friday, in a presser, Phil Savage said that the team and Fraleys agant are working on an agreement.. He mentioned that it will probably take all the way till the eve of FA to get done....

So no offense But Pat M, is just in need of something to write about....

Exactly. It has already been stated that Hank is hoping to hear something today....that would allow them to finalize this before Friday.

I too want Frank to stay....BUT...what have most of us said about other FA....DONT OVERPAY TO BRING THEM IN.....well the same can be said about keeping our own, we cant over pay Frank jus tto keep him in a Browns uniform, Hopefully they can come to a mutual agreement on a fair contract, but we cant over pay him, just cause he's here now....remember I want frank to stay also, he's a hard nosed cleveland type player, but we cant use all our money to buy a truck and have nothing left to buy the gas...

With the kind of cap space that is out there we are going to end up over paying. I would rather pay too much for a player we already have that is of starting quality and well liked then for someone else. I would hate if we brought in another broken down stop gap player just because he is cheap. Now if it turns out Hank is asking for way too much and we can get someone else that is of starting quality ( not many out there) for a lot cheaper than I will be fine with that. It makes no sense to me to go out and spend a lot of money on guards while trying to get a center for cheap.

*LOL* ... he is BY FAR the MOST OVERRATED player ever on this or the old board ... the power of having his wife post here is unbelievable ...

sorry guys .. just like wearing a brown helmet hasn't made others better .. hanks wife posting here doesn't make him any better ..

Signing Hank is no wheres near as IMPORTANT as most of u make it out to be .. it has to be the RIGHT CONTRACT for us to do it ..

Orange...

An orange helmet. (J/K)

Seriously, he's just a solid center.
He bailed us out (if you can say we were bailed out at all) last year. He has the right to see what his value is. There aren't a lot of centers out there that I'm aware of, and we DO need one. Hopefully, it works out and we can keep him, if not, it was the Browns that inked a one year deal, all he did was sign it. It's important we have a decent center. Hank is decent (actually pretty good), he knows the system, but still, he is entitled to see what he can get, and the Browns have to be responsible in the off season. Just because we have money doesn't meen we have to throw it around like Ross verba.

we traded for him .. his existing contract only had a year left ..

he is an AVG CENTER at BEST in some systems and divisions .. NOT OUR DIVISION .. the guy that took his his place in Phili is a much better fit in our division .. we need a STRONG PILE DRIVING Center that can block HUGE MEN such as Casey Hampton and Ngata ... that is not Hanks strength .. as it stands now any running play we want to run up the gut in at least 25% of our games (and it could be 40% if Adams stays in Cinci) we will ahve to double team to help Hank .. not the situation u want .. u want your gaurds free to get to the next level ..

frankly Hank is WORTH ALOT MORE to some other teams than he is ours .. cause his strengths play more into their style of footbal in their divisions .. he definelty has some worth and will get paid .... just not sure we should pay him NOW ...

if he signs with us before FA IMO it shows Opie panicked .. if we sign him before Fa we more than likely will have paid him $$$ that is alot closer to what he is worth to other teams than what he is worth to ours .. cause he'd be nuts to accept considerably less from us ..

i really dont see much of a difference between Faine and Hank as far as their level of play at Center .. their the same "type" of players with very similiar "skill sets" .. the difference in PERCEPTION on here is two fold ..

1. as u said Hank "bailed" us out and did a GOOD JOB considering the situation he walked into .. he had VERY LOW EXPECTATIONS ... jeff was a 1st rnd draft pick .. the EXPECTATIONS were WAY DIFFERENT ..

2. Danielle posts here ..

thats my take anyhow .. *L* .

Unfortunately, if Hank tests the waters of the open market, I think we have little chance of getting him back.

Signing him to a longer term, substantial, but not ridiculous, contract before FA woulda been the way to go. He's good enough that somebody will overpay for him.

Given that we have so little depth, Fraley should a priority signing. Coleman, on the other hand, can blow.

Here's to hoping our first two signings are a guard and Fraley....

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Nice sig. One of the memories from this season that will stay with me for years to come is when Frye got sacked in the middle of his second step of a three step drop.

Getting Russel or Quinn would solve that though...

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Basing our draft pick on 1 play in an entire season and the ASSumption we won't adress the OL if we dot'n get thomas is a pretty intelligent thinking and a good solution ....

touche ..

PS. the only thing that drafting Russell would solve is my opinion of Opie as a GM .. he'd need to go ..

You continue to say his style of play is not condusive to the style of offense we run and because of the type of play in our division. I'll ask you again, who can we bring in that is a better fit? What would he cost?

I think you're underselling Fraley a bit but your points do have some legitimacy.

Fraley isn;t a pure power guy. He is, however, a smart, balanced centre. IF we are going towards a smash mouth offensive style, he might not be the right fit and we want a bigger, stronger straight ahead guy.

However, since we don;t really have an offensive identity yet, I think we're better off with a guy who does everything well, if nothing spectacularly.

Playing devil's advocate though. If we don't pay Hank, who's our starting centre? FA crop? Draft?

Yes you're right about the contact. I forgot we traded for him. Regardless, I'm not saying he's an all pro. I'm saying we need a center. I didn't see anyone competing for his spot last year. LCB is unlikely to return in 08, I'm just saying we need someone to keep the seat warm, he looks to be the best option from where I sit. Having been here a year is a definate plus. That said, I NOT saying throw a wad of cash at him, just that he's gotta be looked at.

Diam,
Curious... who is better then Hank who is at our disposal? Best for our division or not, he is as good as there is, available right now.... or in the draft!

I agree .. Hank is a SMART CENTER with alot of experience that definetly brings some plusses to the table ..

No matter what system we have .. I believe its IMPERATIVE we have a Center that can block the personal he will be playing in our own division .. its not like we have 3 different styles of personal .... Our Center will be squaring st8 up against Hampton and Ngata for 25% of our games .. PERIOD .. and a good chance that another 2 of our games will be him squaring off against Adams .. that would be about 40% of our games .. not INTELLIGENT to have a Center that can't block those guys .. and hank is not a power guy capable of handling these gusy ... would u agree or disagree??

now I am coming off here sounding like i am DEAD SET against signing Hank .. and thats just not true .. there is alot more factors that need to be taken into consideration than most are doing here .. a quick rundown ..

1. Whats Hanks worth to us ..

A. we need a center so that makes it pretty high ..
B.hes not a great fit to block the guys we'll be playing in at least 6 of our 16 games .. that decreases it some ..
C, If La comes back he is a PERFECT FIT to block the guys in at least 6 of our 16 games .. that decreases his long term value to us IF La comes back ...

2. Whats Hanks worth to other teams ..

A. to those without a Center its very high ..
B. to those that play in divisions with teams that play a base 4 - 3 its alot higher
C. for teams like SF and Ari and Det that play a wide open game more suited to Hanks skill set its alot higher ..
D. for teams that dont possibly have one of the best young Centers in the league coming back in a year its alot higher ..

that makes it ALOT TRICKIER to sign hank than most think .. hes WORTH MORE to other teams based on SKILL SET and divison personal ... so where is the line we dont wanna cross in signing him .. thats the tricky part ..

for us the perfect scenario would be to sign him to a one year contract paying him what hes worth to us this year and then i would have no probs overpaying him as its short term ..

the perfect scenario for him to sign a 3 - 5 year deal with a DECENT SB and as much gauranteed $$$$ as possible ..

two tottally different scenarios that make this alot trickier than most of u wanna make it out to be ..

its just not that easy guys ..

what do we do if we dont re-sign him?? find another one .. do i know who that is .. NOPE .. but it dont' mean we shoudl fork out to much $$ for hank .. its not even 3/1 yet guys .. lots of time before we ned to hit the panick button .. I'm sure theres a couple guys in the draft we could get in rnd 2 or 3 that fit what we need better than hank .... then if La does come back moving him to gaurd makes alot more sense ... and for this year .. maybe its smith or we go find one .. just like all the rest of the teams that need centers ..

so we should overpay for him and lock ourselves into a 3 or 4 year contract??? Naaa .. hank ain't near that good ..

what do we do if we dont re-sign him?? find another one .. do i know who that is .. NOPE .. but it dont' mean we shoudl fork out to much $$ for hank .. its not even 3/1 yet guys

I posted this name and had someone check on his status.. Al Johnson of the Cowboys..UFA..there will be a few more ...

Cowboys | Cowboys may choose to re-sign Johnson
Sun, 25 Feb 2007 19:22:22 -0800

According to Jean-Jacques Taylor, of the Dallas Morning News, reporting for the Sporting News, reports the Dallas Cowboys could opt to re-sign C Al Johnson, a backup who shared the position with C Andre Gurode in 2005. Gurode is a power player, who does a good job against the massive nose tackles and defensive tackles who proliferate the NFL, but unless they give him a deal that averages between $4.5 million and $5.5 million per year, they will not be able to re-sign him.
http://www.kffl.com/player/5933/nfl

Y'know Diam, when you're not talking about the Brady Queen, you can make alot of sense.

I understand where you're going and I can;t 100% disagree with you. I think Hank held is ground this year against some truly monsterous defensive tackles. However, guys this size like Hampton or Ngata, I don;t think many centres can handle them one on one for a whole game. LCB might be one of them but he's arguably the best centre in the league (or was anyways)

So is Hank a power guy? No...but he's also no pushover. On some plays, he will need a guard to help out. But I think thats just a reality in dealing with these guys.

I want Fraley back...no doubt. But I don't necessarily want to sell the farm to get him. With him hitting the open market, I think that time has passed because, as you say Diam, he may be worth more to other teams than he is to us. Witness Faine with NO.

If Fraley has no deal in place before FA starts, I think everyone should be prepared to be Fraley-less in 2007.

I've already started looking at Centres other than Kalil in the draft...

As far as Coleman, make it easier: FORCE him to test the market. Get rid of this one; Sign Haley, Phil!
Go Browns!

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*LOL* ... he is BY FAR the MOST OVERRATED player ever on this or the old board ... the power of having his wife post here is unbelievable ...

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Diam, I pay little or no attention to his wife posting here,,, makes diddly difference to me..

And NO WAY is he the MOST overated player on this or any board,,, That's just a crazy statement,,, (as a reminder, there has been a ton of talk about Chaun Thompson, LJ Shelton, Cosey Coleman, Joe Andruzzi, Big Money (little brain) Warren and a host of others that are more deserving if the title, MOST OVERATED)

You may think that signing hank isn't the most important thing,, and to an extent I agree with that... as long as there is an alternative availble... Outside of O'hara (who would NOT be any kinda upgrade from Fraley, in fact, I doubt he's even on par with Hank, but that's always debatable), what alternative do you propose.

If you have one,, cool,,, I'd love to hear about it..

Well, Merth....at some point the QB position needs to be addressed. Pick a QB before building a line is dumb.....but waiting to build a great line and THEN finding a QB isn't an easy situation to be in either.

I guess I'd be ok with a QB if Thomas is off the board at #3. I think he'll be there since Detroit won't take Thomas. They'll draft a QB.

Wow, I really thought we'd sign Fraley already. I wonder if we're looing at Kalil?