Cleveland Browns: Five free agent targets for the 2020 offseason
With a new CBA agreed upon and free agency nearly upon us, let’s take a look at five potential free agents that the Cleveland Browns could pursue.
Well Cleveland Browns fans, here we are again. Another disappointing season, another head coach fired and another new brain trust in the front office. There are already many new faces around the organization that owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam brought in this offseason. Soon, we will find out which players will join them as additions to the Cleveland Browns roster via free agency.
With former Cleveland Browns front office member Andrew Berry becoming the youngest general manager in NFL history and his Cleveland colleague from a few years back, Paul DePodesta, taking on a larger decision-making role within the organization as well, the Browns may be reverting back to a more analytics-based strategy that they employed under Sashi Brown in 2016 and 2017.
The new regime has already made quite a few changes. Recently in regards to the linebacker position, the Cleveland Browns released team captain Christian Kirksey and made it clear that they were fine letting Pro Bowler Joe Schobert walk, clearly letting everyone know that they don’t believe it is in the team’s best interest to have a whole lot of money wrapped up in the position.
They had also previously released cornerback T.J. Carrie, tight end Demetrius Harris, linebacker Adarius Taylor and guard Eric Kush to save salary cap space. More cap casualties could (and probably should) be coming in the near future in tackle Chris Hubbard and possibly even edge rusher Olivier Vernon, who was traded for All-Pro guard Kevin Zeitler last offseason and is due the most money of any player currently on the Cleveland Browns roster for the 2020 season.
The task for the Cleveland Browns front office this offseason will be a daunting one. They need to fill as many roster holes as they possibly can, through free agency, the 2020 NFL Draft and possibly via trades. So far, they have only seemed to create more and more of these holes.
Soon the focus will shift to trying to round out this roster and putting a product on the field that new head coach Kevin Stefanski can mold and lead, young quarterback Baker Mayfield can grow and thrive with and that Cleveland Browns fans will be proud to watch every Sunday.