Talking ourselves into the Browns moves in free agency
With the second week of free agency in the NFL winding down, the only players left are the types that not even a bargain-basement shopping team like the Cleveland Browns would take a look at.
Which means we’ve transitioned into the part of free agency where Browns fans start to rationalize how the players the team has brought in will help the squad more than the players that walked out the door since the end of last season.
If you go by last season’s rankings at Pro Football Focus, the five main players that the Browns have signed – Tramon Williams, Dwayne Bowe, Randy Starks, Josh McCown and Brian Hartline – carry a collective ranking of -26.7. (That number is heavily weighed down by McCown’s ranking of -18.3, however).
That seems pretty depressing until you look at what the Browns “lost” in free agency. Jabaal Sheard, Miles Austin, Buster Skrine, Jordan Cameron, Ahtyba Rubin and Brian Hoyer carry a collective grade of -40.3 out of town.
While those rankings say that the Browns basically stood still in free agency, if you look at little bit deeper the picture looks a little differently. (See what we mean about the rationalizing?)