Your 2015 Cleveland Browns

[Zombo]

@thenew23 said:

Well... it's about that time to start looking at next year's squad. I know we have a long offseason to suffer through, but there has to be a starting point... Here it is:

As of today (12/23/14), the Cleveland Browns' depth chart including ONLY players under contract for 2015 and beyond:

QB - Manziel

RB - Crowell / West / Winston

FB -

WR1 - Gordon / Benjamin / R.Smith

WR2 - Hawkins / Gabriel

LT - Thomas / Bowie

LG - Bitonio

C - Mack / McDonald

RG - Greco / Painter

RT - Schwartz / McQuistan

RDE - Taylor / Hughes / A.Bryant

DT -

LDE - D.Bryant / Winn

ROLB - Kruger / Martin

ILB1- Dansby / Eubanks

ILB2 - Kirksey / Carder

LOLB - Mingo / Solomon

CB1 - Haden / Nelson

CB2 - Desir / Gilbert

CBS - Williams

FS -

SS - Whitner

K -

P -

LS - Yount

What are some of your thoughts on this group? Where are the biggest strengths/weaknesses? What are the priority needs?

This is only 38 players, so we will add 52 by training camp:

First up are the futures contracts and then re-signing our FAs...

Speculate away!!!!

You forgot TEs, I assume Barnridge and Dray are under contract, not sure about Barnridge.

Practice Squad (Can be signed to Futures Contract)

Shaw QB

Bates WR / Cone WR

Barton OG / Cave C

Barnett DT / Meder DE / McDaniel DE / Tupou DT

Pough OLB

James CB

Hard to say, but if we have the same offensive staff, they would probably want to keep developing Shaw. Cave must be raw if he never made the roster with McDonald and Seymour playing C.

Restricted Free Agents

A.McDonald OT

Kitchen DT

Robertson ILB

Gipson FS

Bademosi S

Lanning P

Gipson will be signed. Lanning and Bademosi were valuable special teamers this year, they will be offered contracts. I thought Robertson played well, I would think we'll keep him. I think Kitchen just got injured and we'll be drafting DL, so we'll see what develops there. McDonald, I assume they just signed him for a reason. We need tackle depth, have been fortunate that the starters play every snap every year.

Unrestricted Free Agents

Hoyer QB GONE

Draughn RB Prob Gone

Austin WR Prob Gone

Moore WR Prob Gone (show some prowess on st coverage though)

Cameron TE Prob Gone

R.Taylor TE Whatever

Seymour OG/C Re-sign for depth

Rubin DT Gone

Fua DE Whatever

Sheard OLB Gone

Skrine CB Re-sign hopefully

Leonhard FS Bring him back for a year

Hartley K Gone

[thenew23]

Zombo said:

You forgot TEs, I assume Barnridge and Dray are under contract, not sure about Barnridge.

Correct. I updated the OP.

[Canton Dawg]

@opal312 said:

Why did TJ Ward leave? I never found out. Anyway I quess we start at DT, Wide Receiver, Center. Is Ryan Seymour better than McDonald?

Tony Grossi mentioned this several times.

He said that according TJ Ward the Banner/Lombardi regime never made him a contract offer.

[LogicIsForSquares]

Leonard talked like he is retiring.

[thenew23]

@thenew23 said:

QB - Manziel Manziel has proven nothing. We need a veteran QB and a 3rd QB option... maybe bring back Hoyer and Shaw, or a FA and draft pick

RB - Crowell / West / Winston This is a promising group. I'm sure we'll bring in some young UDFA competition

FB - Not sure what we're looking for with this position, but we should probably just find a H-back (TE/FB Hybrid) type

WR1 - Gordon / Benjamin / R.Smith

WR2 - Hawkins / Gabriel This group needs to get better. Bring back Austin, or some other veteran WR, and add talent in the draft

TE - Barnidge / Dray How can we not re-sign Cameron?

LT - Thomas / Bowie Not too worried about Thomas, or who plays behind him... (said the same thing about Mack oops)

LG - Bitonio Rock solid

C - Mack / McDonald Mack comes back healthy... solid

RG - Greco / Painter Greco's good with Mack playing next to him, but bringing in some competition wouldn't hurt

RT - Schwartz / McQuistan Schwartz has played admirably all season. Could use some depth behind him

RDE - Taylor / Hughes / A.Bryant

DT - We have NO true 3-4 interior DT. This was evident by our lack of run D. Fix this problem, fix the run D. Using a 1st round pick at this position seems obvious

LDE - D.Bryant / Winn If our group of DEs can stay healthy, they are set

ROLB - Kruger / Martin

ILB1- Dansby / Eubanks

ILB2 - Kirksey / Carder Our ILB group is pretty solid if we bring back Robertson. Plus, they will all get better in year 2 under Pettine

LOLB - Mingo I'm okay with starting Kruger and Mingo, but we need at least 2 more pass-rushers. Could see a 1st - 3rd round pick here

CB1 - Haden / Nelson

CB2 - Desir / Gilbert

CBS - Williams The strength of the team. If he's not too expensive, bring back Skrine and this group continues to dominate.

FS - Ummmm... Gipson and Leonhard need to come back

SS - Whitner No problem here

K - Do we just try to bring back Hartley or do we go searching for a long-term answer

P - Bring Lanning back? He got better as the year went on. Finished 23rd in average... not great

LS - Yount He got it together. We brought in a PS long-snapper a couple days ago, maybe we have some LS competition next year

[thenew23]

Will try to track off-season moves on the OP... again will try...

[TopDawg31]

This is interesting

Report: Browns considering pursuing Ndamukong Suh
by R.J. White | CBSSports.com

(8:59 pm ET) The Browns are considering making a play for impending free-agent defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, ESPNCleveland.com reports.
The Browns are expected to have plenty of cap space with which to work during the offseason and could be willing to give the premium free-agent-to-be the richest contract for a defensive lineman in history, per the report. Suh has racked up 46 total tackles and 8 1/2 sacks in 15 games.

[hoorta]

@topdawg31 said:

This is interesting

Report: Browns considering pursuing Ndamukong Suh

by R.J. White | CBSSports.com

(8:59 pm ET) The Browns are considering making a play for impending free-agent defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, ESPNCleveland.com reports.

The Browns are expected to have plenty of cap space with which to work during the offseason and could be willing to give the premium free-agent-to-be the richest contract for a defensive lineman in history, per the report. Suh has racked up 46 total tackles and 8 1/2 sacks in 15 games.

No doubt Suh is great- but that contract is going to be a Cap killer.

[miktoxic]

@hoorta said:

No doubt Suh is great- but that contract is going to be a Cap killer.

and i doubt if he's pettine's cup of tea.

'play like a brown'.

not like a clown.

[RoyceRolls]

pfft, ask Dan Snyder how those mega free agent contracts work out...

[hoorta]

@roycerolls said:

pfft, ask Dan Snyder how those mega free agent contracts work out...

Or trading away three first round picks and a second for an unproven qb like RG III. I already am having nightmares about that one- because neither Mariota or Winston are an Andrew Luck.

[RoyceRolls]

@hoorta said:

Or trading away three first round picks and a second for an unproven qb like RG III. I already am having nightmares about that one- because neither Mariota or Winston are an Andrew Luck.

I totally agree, I will lose faith in this FO if they sign Suh to a stupid contract or trade away multiple drafts for a questionable QB. If they do both this FO is dead to me.

[TopDawg31]

If they could make it work without breaking the bank, He immediately becomes our best DL. Nobody on this team is even close to his talent. I would put up with a few of his stupid personal fouls to have that talent on the DL. I agree on the DO NOT BREAK THE BANK part. We will be losing a lot on the DL to FA this offseason.

[Mudfly]

You cant sign him without breaking the bank....he's already making franchise QB money and has said he wants more.....he will end up being the highest paid Defensive player ever and is nowhere worth THAT designation.....

I hope we pass.....

[TopDawg31]

@mudfly said:

You cant sign him without breaking the bank....he's already making franchise QB money and has said he wants more.....he will end up being the highest paid Defensive player ever and is nowhere worth THAT designation.....

I hope we pass.....

then i agree PASS

[Lambert_58]

@mudfly said:

You cant sign him without breaking the bank....he's already making franchise QB money and has said he wants more.....he will end up being the highest paid Defensive player ever and is nowhere worth THAT designation.....

I hope we pass.....

He needs that money to pay for all the fines he accumulates...

[miktoxic]

not for nothing...at this point i trust farmer in what ever he does to try and better this team.

sign somebody, trade somebody, cut someone...........

havn't had this kinda faith in the FO of this franchise in over 30 years.

[BaconHound]

Maybe Maurice Clarett is available, it seems True Browns fans love it when hometown guys are brought in.

[Canton Mike]

@miktoxic said:

not for nothing...at this point i trust farmer in what ever he does to try and better this team.

sign somebody, trade somebody, cut someone...........

havn't had this kinda faith in the FO of this franchise in over 30 years.

We're on the same page here for sure!

Mike

[Pcollier19]

With this year being pretty weak QB class, it may be ideal to build around Hoyer with Shaw as backup. Manziel seems like a cancer and we should deal him while he still has minimal value. Loved what I saw out of Shaw today considering his lack of line and offensive weapons. I really hope the rumors of Farmer being infatuated with Mariota aren't true because selling the farm for a rookie QB would be the Brownsiest move ever. Especially when we can get an elite WR and DT/DE with our first two picks.

Not a lot of talent available as far as free agent QBs go. I like Jake Locker and believe he hasn't really been given a fair shot in Tennessee. He's injury prone but still young and could fit well in Shanny's system.

Bryce Petty could be a nice third/fourth round pick. Good arm and size. Plus he can move out of the pocket when necessary.

I dunno, it's a mess. But what do you guys think?