Well, the NFL's free agent circus came and went over the span of just a few weeks. For the most part, the Browns sat back and watched the carnage form around them.
The Browns showed an interest in Pierre Garcon and Josh Morgan. However, not at the exhorbitant price tags Dan "The Fan" Snyder and his Redskins paid for them.
***A quick break in the action here. I've heard a lot of people complain that the Browns didn't match Washington's steep bid for the Rams' No. 2 pick to presumably pick Robert Griffin III. I've heard some people claim that they wish they had an owner like Snyder, who isn't afraid to spend money and take chances, instead of the quiet, deep-pocketed Randy Lerner. Do you realize how much of a joke that Redskins franchise is? They win as much as the Browns do lately, which is NEVER. They are always in salary cap hell because Snyder overpays for mediocre talent and tries to recreate a fantasy football team in real life. They treat draft picks like cancer, which is why you'll never see any young nucleus in Washington. Snyder likes to throw a lot of money at big-name coaches (Steve Spurrier, Joe Gibbs, Mike Shanahan), but then quickly gets rid of them if they can't win with his overpriced, mediocre talent. Even with the "savior" RG3, Joe Cleveland will go on record and say that the Redskins will NEVER win a Super Bowl, much less even get to one, as long as Snyder continues to run his team into the ground. Moving on ...
The Browns let Matt Flynn go to Seattle without even bringing him to talk to them. In fact, they didn't really show an interest in any quarterback that was out there.
Tim Tebow could suddenly be had for pretty cheap, but the Browns didn't even show one hint of interest.
The only two free agents signed where a pair of defensive linemen -- Frostee Rucker and Juqua Parker. Of course, free agency is not over yet, and there are still plenty of free agents to choose from, but most of the big names are gone.
Unlike some of the other people in this town, Joe Cleveland would like to take a moment and applaud Tom Heckert for not breaking the bank on mediocre talent.
Remember Phil Savage, the absentee general manager who had an up-and-down four year tenure with the Browns? Savage LOVED making a splash in free agency every single year. He had a deep-pocketed owner who never asked questions and trusted his talent evaluators, so Savage took advantage of that never-ending checkbook.
Here's just a few of the gems Savage gave exhorbitant contracts too -- Gary Baxter, LeCharles Bentley, Corey Williams, Shaun Rogers, Derek Anderson, Joe Jurevicus, Ted Washington, Willie McGinest ...
Jamal Lewis was a nice signing for one season, before the treads came flying off those tires in a hurry during that second year and especially that third year.
Eric Steinbach was a great signing, until he hurt his back and missed all of last season.
Dave Zastudil was a great signing, until he got injured and missed a season-and-a-half.
Jurevicus and Bentley were popular signings because they were from Cleveland. Jurevicus was at the end of his career and was only productive for one season. Bentley, who was a Pro Bowl center the season before, never even played in a single game with the Browns, suffering a career ending knee injury just one play into his first training camp.
Savage gave up his entire 2008 draft for Brady Quinn, Rogers and Corey Williams. How did that one turn out? That turned out to be the final nail in his coffin.
Derek Anderson had one great year (or 3/4ths of a year, if you want to get technical) and was rewarded with a large contract. Then, the real DA showed up and drug the franchise down with him. Now, he holds a clipboard and gives Cam Newton chest bumps whenever Newton scores a touchdown.
Savage hit on a few draft choices. Immediately coming to mind are Joe Thomas, D'Qwell Jackson ... and that's about it. He took Atyaba Rubin in his last draft (his first pick, in the FOURTH round), so he gets credit for him, too, I guess. Josh Cribbs was signed as an undrafted guy the same year he wasted the third-overall pick on Braylon Edwards.
Remember Travis Wilson? Of course you don't. Wilson was a receiver from Oklahoma that Savage once drafted in the third round. Wilson never caught an NFL pass, even though he proclaimed in his first press conference that he was "the best wide receiver in the draft" that year.
You can blame Savage for the disaster that was a starting defensive backfield of Eric Wright-Brandon McDonald. Both were drafted in the same year (Wright in the second round; McDonald in the fourth). Both made a living out of getting torched by opposing quarterbacks. The second-coming of Dixon and Minnifield, they certainly weren't. Last I saw, Wright and McDonald were on a Detroit team that got torched by Matt Flynn and Drew Brees in back-to-back weeks to end their season.
Savage treated the draft like a lost cause. He seemed to focus on the first two rounds, but let himself go from rounds 3-through-7. His excuse was that if anyone becomes a star selected after round 3, that was the exception and not the rule.
Remember Kamerion Wimbley? The Browns could have had him or Haloti Ngata in the first round. Savage listened to Romeo Crennel (who wanted a pass rusher) and GAVE his old boss Ozzie Newsome his first round pick in exchange for the Ravens pick and a sixth-rounder. Ngata has been a stalwart for the division-rival Ravens. Wimbley is now playing for his third-different team, the Browns having dealt him for a third-round choice that turned into Colt McCoy.
Do you still want a guy like Phil Savage running your team? It's no wonder why the Browns only had one winning season in their four years together, but yet were a complete disaster when Savage and Crennel were let go after the 2008 season. He neglected the draft and tried to find "win-now" shortcuts that wound up blowing up in his face.
The Browns' track record in free agency has never really been any good. That even goes back to the Judas Modell days, when he got loans from four different banks to sign Andre Rison to an exhorbitant contract, only to watch Rison destroy his locker room with his cancerous attitude.
How about that Jeff Garcia free agency signing? That was Butch Davis' answer to the Tim Couch-Kelly Holcomb QB carosel. By the end of that season, both Davis and Garcia were gone.
The good teams never go buck-wild in free agency. Green Bay hasn't signed a free agent in two years. Yet they won a Super Bowl just two years ago and came close to doing it again last year. Those hated Stillers never break the bank in free agency, either.
Teams that build through the draft are the ones that wind up consistantly winning over the long haul. This is what the Browns are attempting to do.
The Browns have 13 picks in this year's draft at the moment. Let them do what they do best.
***
So, who's going to be at quarterback, now that Griffin, Luck, Flynn, Manning, Alex Smith, Kyle Orton, Jason Campbell, David Garrard and Tim Tebow are all off the market?
The only way the Browns take Ryan Tannehill is if they trade down from the 4-spot. They won't take him at No. 4. I expect Miami will take him at No. 8, if they don't try to move up to get him first.
Brandon Weeden could be had in the second, or possibly even in the third round. Weeden's age (28) is hurting his stock. If he was 22 or 23 like all the other QBs, he'd be a first-round choice, hands down.
I expect that Colt McCoy will be the starter again. I know that some people are ready to give up on him and think that he's crap, that he's the second-coming of Charlie Frye-Luke McCown-Spurgeon Wynn-Brady Quinn-Tim Couch all over again. And, he might be, when it's all said and done.
However, you can't deny that McCoy played against a stacked deck last year. He had no offseason to learn a brand-new offense. He lost his top offenisve threat in Peyton Hillis for most of the season due to injuries and other assorted bizarre antics, leaving him with a one-legged runner in Montario Hardesty and a practice squad college teammate in Chris Ogbonnaya to hand the ball off to. He was without a dynamic playmaker at receiver, and the receivers he did have led the NFL in collective dropped passes. The right side of his offensive line was a joke, and both of the guards were essentially rookies. Don't forget that rookie fullback in Owen Marecic as well, who wasn't quite ready for primetime.
I expect a lot of these things to be addressed with those 13 draft picks this year. Don't be surprised if a guy like Cedric Benson is signed as kind of a stop-gap, Jamal Lewis-esque signing, even if they take Trent Richardson at No. 4.
This will be a make-or-break year for McCoy. He knows the braintrust in the organization made a play for Griffin (they admitted it and looked like petulant children crying over spilled milk when they did admit it). He knows they may take a QB in the draft, whether it's Tannehill, Weeden, Brock Osweilor, Kellen Moore or Russell Wilson or some other QB I'm not thinking of.
If he fails this year, he'll wind up like Brady Quinn, never starting a game again.
I still think Weeden gets taken by the Browns, perhaps at No. 37, and I still think Seneca "Cancer" Wallace gets shown the door. Wallace has been nothing but a problem since he was brought over to the Browns two years ago and has shown little in positive production in the few times he's been used.
My prediction for the draft -- Morris Claiborne at 4, a receiver (Wright from Baylor, Floyd from Notre Dame or Jeffrey from South Carolina) at 22 and Weeden or LeMichael James at 37. Can that change between now and April 22? Absolutely.
But, that's why this part of the season is fun.
***
Joe Cleveland was going to end his blog here, but I've got to address Paul Dolan's little chat he had with Terry Pluto of the Plain Dealer today.
Dolan refuted claims in Forbes Magazine, which said that the Indians turned a $30 million profit last season (largest in MLB). Dolan admitted the only year ownership got to enjoy some of the profits was the playoff year of 2007 (funny what a few extra sellouts in October can do for the bottom line), and that they've never been as much as $30 million.
Had this been true, the Dolans could get into hot water for not spending the money they get from revenue sharing, both with the frustrated fan base and with MLB.
Dolan also claimed that he really does want to win as badly as the fans do. He also said that the team isn't for sale and, even if it was, there aren't any buyers lining up to buy it.
I really want to believe Paul Dolan and take him at his word. But, I just can't.
I believe everything he told Terry Pluto was a lie.
I believe that they did make $30 million and pocketed most of it. I believe that the team is for sale. I don't believe that he wants to win, only to turn a profit.
If he wanted to win, he'd put his money where his mouth is. Time and time again, he hasn't done so.
His cronies Mark Shapiro and Chris Antonetti aren't exactly babes in woods in this, either. They've made some dumb baseball decisions that have cost this team time and time again. They've spent what little money Dolan allows them to spend in dumb ways (David Delucci and Jason Michaels ring a bell? Matt Lawton? How about that Travis Hafner contract?), and have squandered numerous draft choices (anyone remember John Drennan, Dan Denham or Brad Snyder? Of course you don't) over the years.
The Indians have had their window of opportunity three times since John Hart left for good -- 2005, 2007 and 2011. The window slammed shut in 2006, only to open again 2007, but slam back shut in 2008 and 09. The window is open again this year, but it appears Dolan, Shapiro and Antonetti are willing to let it slam back on them in 2012.
Last summer was fun, even though Joe Cleveland (like many) were waiting for that other shoe to drop (when it did, it dropped hard). Fans were coming back to the Jake. The team was exciting. Some of the young guys were getting their chances and making the most of those chances. Heck, even Jim Thome came back to exorcise some of those old demons.
I fear this summer will be like the summers of 2006, 2008, 2009 and 2010 were. I want to be wrong.
Joe Cleveland really wants to believe you, Paul Dolan. However, he just can't. You've burned us one too many times.
Until next time, remember that Cleveland Rocks
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