Tracy Howard Visits Browns
- University of Miami cornerback Tracy Howard worked out for the Saints, met with the Jaguars, and visited the Browns in the last week, a league source tells Mike Kaye of First Coast News (on Twitter).
Browns Draft Rumors: Deayon, Coley
- Cornerback Donte Deayon is drawing interest from the Colts and Browns and is taking an official visit to the Giants.
- FAU defensive lineman Trevon Coley met with the Vikings, Titans, Lions and Browns and has a workout with the Dolphins coming up. Pauline hears that he impressed scouts on Thursday.
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Browns Draft Rumors: Bosa, Thomas, Byard
Defensive end Joey Bosa is headed to the Browns for a pre-draft visit today, a source tells Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). Tennessee, who owns the No. 1 pick, looked at Bosa and his teammates on Wednesday.
- Southern Mississippi wide receiver Mike Thomas met with the Browns on Thursday, per Luke Easterling of Bleacher Report (on Twitter).
- MTSU defensive back Kevin Byard is meeting with the Browns on Thursday night, a source tells Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). Byard ran a 4.46 40-yard-dash at his pro day and jumped 38 inches on his vertical.
Browns Meet With Yannick Ngakoue
- Maryland outside linebacker Yannick Ngakoue said he has visits scheduled with the Jaguars, Eagles, Titans, and Jets, according to Daniel Gallen of The Baltimore Sun (on Twitter). Tony Pauline of DraftInsider.net (on Twitter) adds that the Bills and Browns both met with him today.
Browns Prefer Demario Davis To Karlos Dansby
- Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal examines why the Browns prefer newly-signed linebacker Demario Davis to Karlos Dansby, who was cut by Cleveland early on in the new league year.
Browns Work Out Robby Anderson, Schedule Jared Goff Workout, Will Meet With Laquon Treadwell; Team Expected To Meet With Carson Wentz
- The 49ers and Browns are slated to work out Jared Goff, Alex Marvez of Fox Sports reports (on Twitter). Both Hue Jackson and Chip Kelly were in attendance at the Cal quarterback’s pro day March 18.
- San Francisco also has a workout scheduled with Michigan State quarterback Connor Cook, Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee reports. The 49ers are expected to meet with Carson Wentz as well soon, as are the Browns, per Barrows. Cook is rated by most as the No. 4 quarterback on the board and could fall to the second round, while Wentz is expected to be chosen in the top 10. Colin Kaepernick‘s $11.9MM salary in 2016 becomes guaranteed if he’s still on the 49ers’ roster by 3 p.m., Thursday.
- The Browns are bringing in Treadwell for a visit Thursday, Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal reports. Despite his lack of top-end speed, Treadwell is still expected to come off the board by the middle of the first round, which would be in the Browns’ range only if they traded down from their No. 2 overall slot or up from No. 32, Ulrich writes.
- Temple wide receiver Robby Anderson visited the Browns today, Ulrich reports. Jackson told media at the owners’ meetings in Boca Raton, Fla., receiver is a position is an area the Browns “need to address, obviously,” as Josh Gordon‘s status for 2016 is still unknown. “I’ve gone on record before saying I like to have bigger, faster guys play the position,” Jackson told media. “We have some very talented guys right now. They’re slight in stature, but they’re tough, and I’m looking forward to working with them and see if there’s more that we can gain from them. But at the same time, I still think it’s an area that we need to get better. And we will.”
Browns Draft Rumors: Lynch, Coleman
- The Browns visited today with Memphis quarterback Paxton Lynch & Baylor wide receiver Corey Coleman, according to Tony Grossi of ESPN.com (on Twitter).
Browns Did Not Promise Starting Job To RG3
The Browns haven’t promised Robert Griffin III anything in terms of a starting job, according to Albert Breer of NFL.com (video link). Although his two-year, $15MM deal certainly suggests that Griffin will be given a chance to win the starting role, Cleveland will continue with its draft preparations as if it hadn’t brought in an external option at quarterback.
[RELATED: Browns execs talk offseason departures and strategy]
As such, Breer reports that there’s a “good chance” that the Browns use the second overall pick on a quarterback, likely Carson Wentz of North Dakota State or Jared Goff of California. Griffin has said that it would not bother him if Cleveland selects a signal-caller at No. 2, and a Browns contingent — Hue Jackson, Pep Hamilton, and vice president of player personnel Andrew Berry — was on hand to watch Wentz’s recent pro day.
The term “analytics” has been tossed around quite a bit since the Browns promoted Sashi Brown and hired Paul DePodesta, but one “Moneyball”-esque approach might be collecting quarterbacks and letting them compete. Instead of drafting Wentz or Goff at No. 2 and pinning the franchise’s hopes on one young player, Cleveland will “take as many shots as they possibly can” at quarterback, per Breer, hoping that its odds of finding a successful QB will improve as more options are added. It’s a method akin to that of Bill Belichick and the Patriots, who constantly trade down in the draft to acquire more capital with the idea that more bites at the apple leads to better odds of a hit.
Griffin, the 2012 offensive rookie of the year, hasn’t been the same since tearing his ACL in the playoffs that season. Although the former Pro Bowl quarterback completed a career-best 68.1% of his passes in 2014, he threw just four touchdown passes compared to six interceptions and fell out of favor with Jay Gruden. Subsequently, RGIII didn’t take a snap in 2015 as Kirk Cousins captured Washington’s starting job and ultimately received the franchise tag.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Browns Execs Talk Offseason, Departures, Strategy
It hasn’t been a whole lot of fun in Cleveland since Browns owner Jimmy Haslam purchased the franchise in 2012. As Nate Ulrich of Ohio.com writes, the team has already fired three head coaches, three general managers, two presidents, and a CEO during Haslam’s tenure, and the team hasn’t yet finished with a winning record.
Of course, the organization is hoping 2016 will be the year they turn things around. The team signed former Bengals offensive coordinator Hue Jackson to be their next head coach, and they also hired three Harvard University graduates (including Paul DePodesta of “Moneyball” fame) to make up their front office.
Optimism is high, evident by the executives’ quotes at the NFL owners meeting and MIT’s Sloan Sports Analytics Conference. We’ve compiled some of the notable soundbites below, all via Ulrich…
Haslam on his team’s playoff drought:
“Until we start winning, people are going to make fun of you. So it’s our job to get the right people in place to hopefully turn this thing around like we all want to see, and we’re cautiously optimistic we’ve done that.”
DePodesta on four starters (Alex Mack, Tashaun Gipson, Mitchell Schwartz, and Travis Benjamin) leaving via free agency:
“We all knew they were good players. We want to get to that point where we have enough of a critical mass of our core guys that it makes sense to retain them all. … That day, I think we all felt like, this is going to be our hardest day, and if we can get past this, then it’s looking up from here, which is good. I think we’ll be in a position going forward to go retain a lot of those guys.”
Jackson on Browns “rebooting” strategy:
“Rebuilding says that you’re totally junking everything and starting over, and that’s not what we’re doing. I think we’re rebooting and we’re recharging because there’s still Joe Thomas‘s on our football team, there’s Danny Sheltons on our football team, there’s Joe Hadens on our football team. So those guys aren’t rebuilding.
“And I think if we can get the right pieces on our team, you never know what this team could be. I know the expectation is low, and deservedly so. I get it, but at the same time, I don’t think anybody in our organization is built like that. We like to win, and we want to do everything we can to do that.”
RG3 To Work With Quarterback Expert
- The Browns’ Robert Griffin III will head to Los Angeles to conduct offseason workouts with quarterback guru Tom House, reports Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com. House, an ex-Major League Baseball pitcher who’s close with Browns head coach Hue Jackson, has worked with Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Andy Dalton, Carson Palmer, Terrelle Pryor, A.J. McCarron, Alex Smith and Tim Tebow in the past. He spent a large portion of last offseason with Dalton, who went on to have a career year.