https://nflspinzone.com/2018/06/27/cleveland-browns-e-j-gaines-miffed/
Cleveland Browns: New cornerback miffed?
by Peter Smith19h ago
It seemed strange when the Cleveland Browns were able to sign three corners in free agency, but there may be a reason and it doesn’t make the team look great.
The Cleveland Browns have invested significant resources to their cornerback position in hopes of improving drastically from last year. That attempt included signing three free agents and drafting two players and while that all sounds good, there is reason to believe that at least one of those corners is experiencing some buyer’s remorse already.
Per a source with direct knowledge, cornerback E.J. Gaines feels misled by the Browns front office. He believes that he was essentially promised a starting job in order for him to sign and now finds himself in a three-way battle or a starting spot with the loser effectively languishing on the bench.
Gaines is a professional and isn’t going to allow this to impact his effort or attitude, but he may have a good reason to feel slighted. Some might argue that he should have seen the writing on the wall when he was the third free agent to sign in Cleveland after T.J. Carrie and Terrance Mitchell, but at the time, there were two starting jobs up for grabs and he was the most proven commodity of the three.
It wasn’t until the team used the fourth overall pick in the draft on Ohio State corner Denzel Ward that it became clear that things weren’t going to go as he was led to believe. Gaines could certainly beat out Carrie and Mitchell for a starting job that seems to be across from Ward, but the worry is that losing means not playing, save for dime reps or an injury and a season lost. And when he re-enters free agency next year, Gaines will have lost value in negotiating a contract when he was trying to build it up for a longer term contract. It’s understandably frustrating.
He believes and has the evidence to backup that he is a starting caliber corner. Certainly, the Browns don’t look great if they did indeed mislead a free agent to sign with their team and players talk. Agents also talk. If other players and agents believe what Gaines is saying that it could impact future negotiations.
It’s also possible that they may look at the situation and believe that both Gaines and his agent should have known better going in and opting to sign with Cleveland when there were other viable offers out there, albeit for less money.
This is also interesting in that there was reporting when Mychal Kendricks was signed that he would be a starter. It’s not clear as if that was simply a reporter reading the situation and projecting that Kendricks would start or if someone from the Kendricks camp was relaying something they were told by the Browns. Short of an injury or a move of some kind, Kendricks is likely to be a backup and package player.
This doesn’t look great for the Browns, but they do find themselves in a pretty good position to right the situation should they want. Beyond the supplemental draft in a few weeks, there are few options out there to improve a team’s roster at this point and there are a few corner needy teams.
The fact the Browns signed Gaines to a deal for a little under $3.9 million and almost $2.5 million of that is guaranteed is interesting. Using their cap room as a weapon here, the Browns could wait until July or even August when they’ve settled on the guy they want to start for their team and other teams get more desperate.
The Browns could opt to deal Gaines to a team for a draft pick or a player where he would likely become the starter either on the perimeter or the boundary, the Browns get a pick or player they can use, while also making things right (or righter anyway) for Gaines. The fact that the Browns would be eating so much of the money, leaving the team potentially trading for Gaines just getting him for $1.4 million for the season is a pretty good deal for the team getting him.
One of the teams that stands out in this situation may be a team the Browns have already dealt with once this offseason for a corner. The Arizona Cardinals have a stud in Patrick Peterson, but gave the Browns a sixth round pick in 2019 for Jamar Taylor, who for the moment, is projected to be the starter opposite him. Maybe the Cardinals go for a supplemental pick, but they could make a deal for Gaines, which was one of the teams that offered Gaines a deal before he signed with Cleveland.
The Cardinals could get the player they wanted in free agency for a smaller cost than they expected all for the cost of what might be as small as a player they weren’t all that attached too in the first place or another late round pick.
This would be an extremely smart and aggressive move by the Browns front office, using their cap space as a tool to allow them to add gain assets either in personnel or draft assets for cap space that was otherwise unused. It’s effectively what they did with the Brock Osweiler trade on a much smaller scale.
Gaines is not the only player that could fit this bill as both Carrie and Mitchell were signed to contracts with a bonus up front. It’s more likely that the team would move an unhappy Gaines, but they do have some options.
None of this is the end of the world for the Cleveland Browns or general manager John Dorsey, but for a team trying to build some credibility with talented free agents that can make an impact, it’s not a great look. Winning, success and opportunity will do more to help sell the Browns to potential free agents than anything, but players and agents want to be able to negotiate in good faith and no amount of ‘chiefs’ and ‘kemosabes’ will fix that.
With Gaines, it appears that didn’t happen. And while he’s not a player to create issues in the locker room over it, he’s the type of player the Browns want to do right by as they hope to attract other professional, talented football players focused on doing their job that can help their team.
