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Browns assemble largest collection of older players in expansion era

THE BROWN AND GRAY
Look closely as you inspect the Browns’ new colors.
Notice the tinge of gray?
The first four signings of the free agency period leave the Browns with the oldest cluster of key players they will have taken into an expansion-era season.
Add that foursome to the four pricey players signed in the 2012 and 2013 free agency roundups and this is what you have:
• Defensive lineman Randy Starks has played in 171 NFL games, most on the Browns’ pre-draft roster
• Cornerback Tramon Williams has started 79 of a possible 80 games for the Packers in the last five years. He signed with the Browns Monday on his 32nd birthday.
• Quarterback Josh McCown turns 36 in July.
• Wideout Brian Hartline turns 29 during the 2015 season
• Inside linebacker Karlos Dansby turns 34 during the season.
• Strong safety Donte Whitner turns 30 in July.
• Outside linebacker Paul Kruger will turn 30 shortly after the Super Bowl.
• Defensive lineman Desmond Bryant turns 30 during the season.
ANOTHER YEAR OLDER
In addition to this cast, another cluster of players is another year older.
Right guard John Greco turns 30 next week.
Tight end Gary Barnidge turns 30 in September.
Center Alex Mack turns 30 in November.
Left tackle Joe Thomas turns 31 in December, when tight end Jim Dray turns 29.
Wideout Andrew Hawkins turns 30 a month after the next Super Bowl.
That’s more than a dozen key players in the 30ish range, which is a bunch for any team in this day and age.
We heard frequently in 2014 that the Browns were a young team. The point was exaggerated at times then. It shouldn’t even be attempted now.
Since 1999, the Browns have speckled rosters with some veterans, a few older than anyone listed above. Never have they collected as many geezers as they have now.
And, yes, in a stretch of time when 20-somethings Jason Worilds, Jake Locker and Chris Borland (he’s only 24) announced retirements, geezers is a fair term.
On the other hand, so much of what happens with the Browns in 2015 could come down to a quarterback who will turn 23 shortly before Christmas.
Perhaps it will help Johnny Manziel to be surrounded by so many old guys.
• • •

http://www.cantonrep.com/article/20150317/BLOGS/150319323/10256

j/c

It just seems like we have no direction or consistent plan since 99 ... we're like all over the place randomly.

Obviously most of it has to do with the leadership at the top and inconsistency with coaching/systems ... but it's frustrating

I think Joe Banner was a very smart and savvy business man, but the idea that football players are through at the age of 30 is one of the dumbest things ever. It is needlessly self-limiting to disqualify a large group of viable talent based on something as arbitrary as age. We have all seen football players perform at extremely high levels well into their 30's. To make the age of 30 such a bright line in evaluating talent is the epitome of "foolish consistency", and as the saying goes, "foolish consistencies are the hobgoblins of little minds" (Ralph Waldo Emerson).

j/c:

I found these rather comical:





So what the writer is REALLY saying is that they're 29 all season long but needed to add a couple other '30 yr olds' someway, somehow to make it look more impactful?

How many 30 somethings are on the Steelers, Ravens, Broncos, Patriots, etc.? and they seem to be pretty good. LOL I don't care if the whole roster is 40 years old if they can play and win that's all that matters. Seems like people want to bash the Browns regardless of how they try and build a competitive roster.

Good post IMO. Writer needed to exaggerate the angle. Dumb notion. Veteran presence has no place in the club. No vets must mean much stronger and better team?
How about dumber. Having a few proven vets helps your future IMO.

I concede we seem late to the table on FA for "names" so far. We may have overpaid, maybe badly. We do need a blockbuster draft this year if we can.

I bet they draft a bunch of old guys with those 10 picks, too. O_o

Yeah exactly, honestly, I think the entire article is just... stupid. With all the young talent, what wrong is there having veterans? Dansby, 34,say whatever you want - if we cut him today, there would be a tidal wave of interested teams.

It isn't like we signed a bunch of David Bowens, Eric Barton and Ted Washington like players!

10 draft picks this year.

At least 11 next year (via the NFL compensatory picks).

I think Ray Farmer knows that this team needs young players to build long term success.

It is a good thing though having a mixture of young players and veterans.

Nothing to see here. Move along...Move along....

Meh. Time marches on.

Age is meaningless if they can still play. It is a WAY overplayed card around here.

Yes it is; in fact it's essential...for all the obvious reasons.

for most athletes other than running backs 27-32 is their best years, wisdom far outweighs any loss of perceived athleticism. this is also why Vers was so against letting guys like Skrine walk, he is just now starting to get into the frame where they are at their best. It is why joe banner wanted guys entering their 2nd contract. We havent really deviated from it that much however. the guys we have brought in at the end of that time frame are getting rental contracts.

Reminds me of many years ago when the Jets had a trio of short WRs..

During the pregame they had a bit about them, they listed two of them at 5'10 or so.. then the third one at 5'12"...

I was like.. wait.. what..

Alright, let's see if it helps!

Does this help them beat the Steelers, Ravens, and Bengals?

Age is meaningless? Really? Alright, lets put that to the test. Lets call up Brett Favre and drag him out of retirement. He's not that much older than McCown and he'd probably win more games this season.

Old is awesome. Lets try to make the Browns the oldest team in the NFL. If a player is under 30, we don't want them. Hoefully, Farmer will trade our picks for old guys. lmmfao

By the way... found this interesting...

"Orange and Brown Rpt ‏@TheOBR 5m5 minutes ago

Browns #1 according to spotrac with $35,247,831 of cap space"

I bet we enter the season with at least 20 million unspent. If not more. The Browns are cheap. The value cap sapce over talent.

Well great. Then there's no reason we shouldn't make a playoff run this year. And if we don't then Farmer and Pettine go buh bye....

I really hope you don't actually believe the crap that you constantly spew out..

Of course he doesn't but Spirit uses hyper boil to drive his points home, he always has. He is the guy that can piss you off to the point that you want to reach thru the monitor and strangle him. He is also a great fan who Loves the Browns and I have the utmost respect for Spirit he is a good dude who makes great points at times.

Some of you have adopted the opinion that Spirit is a troll ( not accusing you guy) and NOTHING could be further from the truth. Spirit is a great fan he just sees things differently and I love to debate him.

The folks that know me know I am down on this regime they have huge problems within their ranks and it starts with Haslam and really ends with Haslam as well. But since he is the owner he gets to FIU and to date he has done just that.

My one hope for this regime is that Haslam has seen the errors of his ways and now is fully on board with getting involved when he needs to and otherwise stays out of the football part of things. last off season he fired Chud because he didn't like the fact that Chud didn't hold players accountable and I was down with that because its important for a team like the Browns to start from that position, but somewhere along the way Haslam lost his way and started to allow players to be disruptive to the team. He adopted players like Gordon and JF and allowed them to get away with things other players weren't allowed to do. At the end of the season he finally recognized the errors of his ways and handed out suspensions.

Having said all that my point to Spirit would be this. Yes age is a factor but I agree with not going after the top guys in FA, I nearly always do but my reason are these and echo a long ago coach we had here in Cleveland. Character guys in the locker room is imperative if this team is to get out of the basement regardless of talent or age and I think they (management) realizes this simple truth. This team at this juncture can't absorb head cases.

When you set the president of not holding players accountable and you have a huge lack of veteran leadership to set these young guys up to be successful you fail. So while I agree its better to be younger its also important to have a balance between youth and veterans. Perhaps these guys went to far, but then again its far more important to set a tone so to speak at this juncture and build from there, so I agree with what their doing here in that respect as it applies to FA.

Will get younger come draft time and the veterans will set the tone and the competition for the youth. I see it as a positive mix for now.

JMHO

Yup.

And yesteryear's orange is today's .... uh, orange.

I agree with a lot of takes. I don't mind adding some age. On the other hand, we can't get carried away. At this point I don't think we are.

This is free agency. Everybody we can sign is going to have some age on them. We just haven't signed the high dollar guys headed in to their prime and opted for the guys on the back side of their career. That's OK since we are looking for help this year. Maybe next.

We have 10 picks next month plus UDFA. By the time all the picks are made and the cuts come down, we probably keep 5-6 players. They are all going to be 22-24 years old. And who knows, maybe some of the players we just signed will end up backing up some of them?

This team was still young enough that it didn't hurt to add a little more veteran leadership

just a note this article was written by a guy who looks like he is 70.

j/c

As of right now we have the least amount of 30 or older players in our division.

We currently have 6
Balt. = 7
Cincy = 10
Pitt. = 10

Did you include the 29yr and 3/4 people?

Nope, just who were currently 30 or more. I didn't include people who will be 30 2 years from now like this writer did either.

This is a non issue. 30 year old players are not over the hill and the guys we just signed will be replaced with younger players in 2-3 years. Besides, you need some older players to help mentor the young guys.

coaching staff doesnt count!!!!

I took a look at the Bills and the Browns CURRENT Rosters, the off season one. I added Clay for Buffalo and McKnown and Bowe for Cleveland. I also subtracted Thigpen (sine I wasn't sure if he had a contract still) and Gordon since he wont play....

The Bills AVERAGE age as of TODAY was a little over 27 years old.
The Browns AVERAGE AGE was still around 24/25....

Age can hurt a team, especially too much of it... However, too much youth can as well. It is nice to see a good mix.

yea. all those undrafted rookie free agents sure do take the age down. to bad our team is made up of people no team including us would draft.

You mean players undrafted like the guy you based your user name on the old board "paytheman"?

Joshua "Josh" Cribbs the Cleveland Browns as an undrafted free agent in 2005"

yea. the blind squirrel find a nut thing. amazing how our last 3 gm find so many nuts and no other gm can. even more amazing is how all our great gm have gone on to bigger and better things. pfft

So why do you stick around if they are so bad? Maybe you can follow their lead and go on to bigger better things!

You

Are

A

Troll

OR Tashaun Gipson or K'Wuan Williams or Isiah Crowell or Craig Robertson.

All legit players. Maybe not all superstars but have outperformed other guys that can't crack a roster anywhere.

EVERY GM has hits and misses. Its just a matter of whether you hit more than you miss and can do it a few years in a row.

old age?

you

are

a sucker.