Byrd is the Ward, Rubin and Mosley

Can the Browns afford to keep TJ Ward and sign Jarius Byrd? As much as i and everyone else would love if that could happen, the chances are almost slim and none.  The idea of paying a Free Safety and Strong Safety a combined total of over $16 millions would be insane.  Look around the league, the highest paid Safety duo right now is in Seattle with Kam Chancellor making $4,725,000 and Earl Thomas making $4,625,000 for a combined total of $9,350,000.  The highest paid individual Safety is Eric Berry in Kansas City at $8,417,000 and i expect Byrd will receive more than that since he's already turned down that kind of money in Buffalo. At the end of the day, i expect that Ward stays in Cleveland and Byrd flies elsewhere.  I maintain that resigning Ward will greatly improve the chances of inking Joe Haden to an extension. Let's say I'm wrong though and Byrd comes to Cleveland, they are going to need a SS because i don't think Jordan Poyer is going to cut it.  Donte wHitner anyone?

If you are one of the ignorant trolls calling for the Browns to cut Rubin, please stop.  Rubin is a piece of the Browns greatest asset, their defensive line.  They have 6 very capable interior linemen that mesh well together and get the job done week in and week out because they keep each other fresh and work well together.  Why in gods name would you want to break up the most cohesive unit on the squad and add the DL position to the list of needs along with QB, RB, WR, DB, OL, and ILB?  To save a little money?  Give me a break, the Browns aren't anywhere close to the cap, let Rubin play out his contract even though he isn't playing at the level he's getting paid at. Keep this unit together.

NFL Draft 2014.  I'm sick of thinking about it, my mind is mush.  The QB's are all overrated and will go higher than they should.  Clowney maybe the top prospect in the draft but he's also one of the biggest risks.   Sammy Watkins should be a great WR at the next level but face it, WR isn't a huge need for the Browns. Mack is intriguing but i don't think OLB is a high priority.  We don't need a LT so OL isn't going to happen early.  So, what should we expect then?  CJ Mosley.  The Browns will have him rated much higher than any of us would expect because they don't have an ILB at this point and the ILB is a pretty important position on the field.  I don't count out the possibility that the Browns reach for him at 4 but the more logical plan would be to drop down a few spots and pick him up there.  It is very possibly that a team is going to want to move up when their QB, Clowney or Watkins slips to 4.  Wishful thinking but it makes sense and i can see it happening.

Joe Banner, meet the Door

Back on January 13^th I mentioned that Joe Banner and Mike Lombardi needed to be shown the door and that Ray Farmer should be promoted in order to right this sinking ship. 

Well, almost exactly a month later Jimmy Haslam has decided he’s seen enough.  Apparently Joe Banner and Jimmy Haslam weren't seeing eye to eye during the coaching search so Jimmy did some digging and came to the conclusion that Joe's personality and poor attitude were keeping coaches away. 

Joe Banner and Mike Lombardi are out, Alec Scheiner and Ray Farmer are in.  Alec will continue his role as President and maintain the business side of the operation and Ray will take over as GM and take control of the draft and the 53 man roster.  Farmer, Scheiner and Pettine will all report directly to Jimmy.  Newly hired assistant GM Bill Kuharich, former Chiefs VP of Player Personnel will report to Ray Farmer. 

This is great news for Cleveland fans for a number of reasons but mostly because we now have a “football” guy in charge of football things (the 53 man roster) and a "business" guy in charge of business things.  No more colluding and micromanaging from a Napoleon wanna be.

Farmer may be young and a first time GM but one thing I can guarantee you is that he isn’t and won’t be looked at in the same way that Joe Banner was.  Ray is well respected in this league and will help to resurrect the image of this organization.

So, what is in store for the near future, specifically the draft and free agency? 

First of all I think the odds of TJ Ward and Alex Mack both being resigned (or tagged) just increased greatly. The top priority on Farmers list of things to do should be to get Joe Haden and TJ Ward locked up for the long term, which I think will happen before the combine starts.  The second thing on his list should be to figure out the QB situation and in case you are wondering what type of QB Farmer likes, Mariotta was his top QB until he decided to return to Oregon.  

So we’ve got a rookie Head Coach and a rookie GM now in Cleveland but I’ve got to believe this team is in much better shape now than it has been in quite some time and I feel good about our future.  The cancer also known as Joe Banner is gone.  No more scaring away talent, no more blame game and no more power hungry BS.  The future looks good and the only thing left to do is to win. 

Phase 2: QB

Phase 1 of the important offseason decisions is complete.  The head coach and coordinators have been hired, now it’s time to move onto the next most important decision, QB.  What does the future hold concerning the QB position in Cleveland?  Do the Browns ride the Hoyer train, draft a guy, or pluck someone from another team’s roster? 

So what are the options?

1.  Draft – There are 3 guys in the upcoming draft that I expect to be franchise QB’s in the NFL for years to come.  Teddy Bridgewater, Johnny Manziel and Blake Bortles.  All three bring completely different things to the table.

• Johnny.   My #1 has all the tools and athletic ability you look for in a QB.  He’s smart, he has the arm strength and accuracy, he can make things happen and his mechanics are manageable but he doesn’t have the size which I’m able to look past although there are many that cannot.
• Teddy.   I like the guy.  He makes solid decisions and he has the size and mechanics that you want in an NFL QB.   I worry about his accuracy on the intermediate routes and his arm strength though.  It also appears that his hand size could be an issue but at the end of the day Teddy should be a good one.
• Bortles.  He is a wild card at 4 for me and I’m not sure I could pull the trigger on him.  I like him, I like everything about his game but I think he’ll need to sit for a couple years before he’ll be ready to be thrown in the driver’s seat. The question is if the Browns have that kind of time?

2.  KING HOYER.  Could it be time to jump on the Hoyer train and ride that bad boy across the country? Hoyer and Kirk Cousins play a similar game so it could be possible that Kyle Shanahan told the Browns FO that Hoyer is the guy for the job and he can make it work.  Even though Kirk Cousins never really made it work in Washington except for when he played against the Browns.

This isn’t the ideal situation but it’s not out of the question either.  The Browns could bring a guy in from the draft to challenge for the starting job, someone like AJ McCarron or Jimmy Garoppolo after the 2^nd round.

There are also some low tier free agents that will be available like Matt Cassell, Chad Henne, and Mike Vick that could all come in and back up the King.

3.  Trade/free agent – With Shanahan coming here and Kirk Cousins wanting out of Washington, I don’t think it’s that farfetched of an idea for him to land in Cleveland.  Is it an ideal situation?  Not if you ask me but I guess it could be worse.  Brandon Weeden could still be here.

The problem I see here is you have another stupid QB competition with two unproven QB’s that appear to be the same player, it could cause problems.   I think if the Browns are going to trade for someone or sign a free agent they should expand their mind a little bit and think outside of the box.  Go after Matt Schaub or Ryan Mallet.  Schaub has been a top 10 QB in this league for 6 out of his 7 years in the league as a starter, I don’t think his career is quite over yet and there is a chance that Houston lets him go.

As far as Mallet goes, I’m sick of hearing his name and talking about him but the option is there so we can just leave it at that.

At the end of the day the most important thing that needs to happen is Brandon Weeden and Jason Campbell need to be released from the team and unless someone throws a great offer at us for Hoyer, he deserves to stick around.  It’s time to move on to phase 2 and get this QB situation right at all costs and the best way to do that would be to draft Johnny Football or Teddy Bridgewater at 4, back him up with Brian Hoyer and draft a kid in or after the fifth round.