Inactivity: Brilliant or Crazy?

[Brown Warrior]

It's not really in question: The Browns have done way less than most thought they would in free agency. National media are writing about how quiet they've been for a team with money and roster holes.

Lane Adkins over at OBR, always measured and FAR from an alarmist, is starting to show the cracks. He says it's hard to make a lot of sense of what the Browns are doing given that other teams are adding talent and spending... and not just on old, washed-up, overrated players.

There were a ton of 20-something ascenders at positions of need who have found their way to other teams: CBs, WRs, OLs, DLs, and safeties. The Browns have stuck to backups, some from here, some from other teams. Very low-wattage signings.

We aren't talking about losing guys to huge deals. Mike Sims-Walker signed a one year 3.5 mill deal. Hell, even Ray Edwards' deal wasn't all that huge. We surely could've outbid Green Bay for James Jones. Richard Marshall? Chris Carr?

Maybe there's some quiet genius in play here... but it certainly is confounding, no matter how much Kool-Aid we guzzle. Not sure who's left out there at CB, RT, WR, or pass rusher, if anybody.

Are we a better team... or just a younger team? I want to understand the plan and why it's the best thing. I just can't wrap my arms around it. When a guy like Adkins starts sounded confounded -- he says his sources continue to say the Browns want help at CB, DL, OL, and WR while target after target goes away -- I know I'm not being a hyperbolic ass clown (!).

BTW, Adkins also says the Browns seem fairly content at LB, which is really confusing.

[YtownBacker]

Can't understand why everyone is so surprised when Heckert and Holmgren both said they weren't going to go crazy in FA.

If and When they find the right fits they are going after them. There are still well over 100 FAs out there and some very nice athletes. FA isn't over at midnight, it just started. As people sign others get released.

Brilliant or Crazy?..........neither. Just football from the point of view of a GM trying to rebuild a once gloried franchise. It isn't going to happen overnight. And, it isn't going to happen by overspending a lot of money in FA. Maybe their evaluations of talent and fits for this team doesn't fit some here but I got to go with the professional who has been there and done that, and has a proven track record.

[DeadWombat]

Its aggravating. Its not like we DON'T obviously have major needs, cause we do. And we have money to spend, right?

I don't get it.

...You know, there's a thin line between genius and crazy, and that line is whether or not the method works.

[mikeyP]

NYG want a 1st rounder for Osi, our pick from ATL may be on the block if that's the case.

As for the inactivity, I'm gonna just do what everyone else around here does:

"No one wins a championship by signing F/A's"

Let's just leave it at that that's all this debate is going to come to.

[YtownBacker]

"No one wins championships by signing F/A's"................WTF

I think a bit of frustration is dripping from your chin.

How about waiting until they deal out all the cards. Again, FA and a trading deadline isn't over at midnight tonight.

If nobody else is signed and we go to game one with a bunch of holes then you can justify a panic attack, maybe. Right know it's too early to throw your cards in.

[Brown Warrior]

A lot of other teams are getting a ton accomplished this offseason, like Detroit, the Eagles, the Panthers, the Cards, and the Rams. Adding good football players is how you get better, so I'm not sure I see how we're gonna pull it off with a rope-a-dope.

At the same time, I think Heckert and Holmgren are smart guys. I know there's a plan here somewhere... but right now it just looks like we're falling farther behind.

Y, you sad there's still talent out there. We REALLY seem to ned another DE, a linebacker, a corner, and (I think) a WR. Who's left?

[PB&J]

The way I look at it is this: I will always be a Browns fan for whatever stupid reason - I have family ties to Cleveland, love the area nd love the history. I have no control whatsoever over what moves the Browns make or don't make. Because of these two things, I have the choice of watching the Browns and being pissed off and angry about what they are doing and how they are run or just being interested in seeing how things turn out while not making myself suffer over it.

I don't think we should be bashing the team for moves they didn't make, but instead should be discussing the ones they did. Either way, they don't care about what some guys on message boards think about it.

[Brown Warrior]

Dude, you've ascended to full-on Zen Master Mode... I don't think I'm there yet. Paul McCartney hit it the day he wrote "Silly Little Love Songs," and the thing is... I kinda get it now. I remember a long bar argument with my sister ten years ago when she said the words, "None of that shit really matters to me anymore," which was about dreams and visions and my artistic blather in general.

I was horrified. Now I understand. But I'm not quite to the point that I can just sit back and at the Browns. It's a much healthier approach (seriously), but I haven't achieved that level yet.

[Brown Warrior]

Along these lines, I seriously do think we should do t-shirts and coffee cups with the Brownie saying T-Fluges' classic line...

"Good! I didn't want that guy anyway!"

It's the next "Metcalf up the middle!"

[Alo]

If free agency ended today, I wouldn't be happy. But if the team's slow playing a couple targets to get better deals, I don't mind a day or two delay.

PFF has a good look at the best available free agents. You can scratch off Tulloch, Barnett, and Huff, but I believe the rest are available.

[Brown Warrior]

Blalock's gone, too.

Ouch. That's a painful list. Didn't realize all the WRs were gone except Steve Smith... and all the corners are basically gone.

That was pretty fast. Who do you like out there?

[Brown Warrior]

From that list, I'd say the Seahawks (Locklear, Jennings, Brock) could make some sense, although they're all older and short-term fixes. Jennings is 29, I think, and did have a nice year in 2010 (13 PDs), so that's not all bad.

I have no idea what shape Steve Smith is in, but is he really all that's left out there? I guess Bernard Berrian.