@tour2ma said:

I thought he was OLB??

@osiris said:

And with the report I heard that Hightower is now the 2nd highest paid ILB in the league, I'd say it was mission accomplished.

@westside-steve said:

I hate to see high Cleveland Browns draft picks fall short. Yet...they almost all seem to do so. So...now we have two more. Are they going to turn into Mingos/Gilberts/Manziels....or something else, you know, like live up to their draft status.

@texasag1969 said:

Well BillyB got Hightowter back after testing FA market. And the Browns can't seem to do this somehow.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000793250/article/donta-hightower-to-sign-fouryear-deal-with-patriots

All the Browns have to do is be a dynasty coming off of a Super Bowl win and the situations might be apples to apples.

@texasag1969 said:

When the Browns have freshly-minted Super Bowl rings to flash around, I imagine they'll be able to pull that off. I bet BillyB said to Hightower, go establish your value on the market and then we'll come up with a contract. I doubt he was ever going to end up somewhere else (read this article after typing this up, but they are saying same thing).

@westside-steve said:

I'm kinda with you on that. He had speed and size, and it seems like he could cover well enough. With the amount of 'mismatch' tight ends around these days, I'd rather see Mingo covering them than say Paul Kruger or Carl Nassib or someone. From a 4-3 OLB kind of spot you could see him in a coverage role with some occasional blitzing to use his speed around the edge maybe.

But what do I know - clearly nothing if even Billy B couldn't get anything out of him.

@tour2ma said:

Are you talking to Belichick?

Oh just talking about anybody in general. Mingo always seemed like one of the good guys with some physical talent and I hate to see somebody like that fall short in the NFL. That's about it.

WSS

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000793250/article/donta-hightower-to-sign-fouryear-deal-with-patriots

@westside-steve said:

Are you talking to Belichick?

@westside-steve said:

Well, it seems that your boy BB ended up having no use for him.....and we know how good a defensive coach he is, and if he thinks the guy can't cut the mustard, I think the pretty much tells you what you want to know about him.

@the-gipper said:

Those were both good values for those guys. What a fucked up FO we had in the guys that chose those guys #6 and #8 overall.

Still seems like we could have found a use for Mingo if somebody had taking the time.

WSS

@gftchris said:

Those were both good values for those guys. What a fucked up FO we had in the guys that chose those guys #6 and #8 overall.

@hoorta said:

We thought that about Gilbert (sixth from steelers) and Mingo (fifth from Pats) as well...

@bigalow80 said:

the nice thing is they have depth now. Fabiano, drango, greco and Reiter add both OC/OG depth. I think Coleman has a bright future and at some point he will need to be moved to the Left side. Erving wasn't terrible at tackle but he is never healthy either. I think erving gets traded for a very late round pick and the browns move forward with the line as is.

Erving's trade value is about zero. Assuming he flops @ RT, he'll probably get cut. Another team might pick him up to kick the tires.

Rightfully so.

Cleveland Browns Scribbles: Terrelle Pryor dropped ball on contract talks

By Terry Pluto, The Plain Dealer

on March 15, 2017 at 6:30 AM, updated March 15, 2017 at 6:31 AM

http://www.cleveland.com/pluto/index.ssf/2017/03/cleveland_browns_scribbles_ter.html

@unsympathetic said:

First... Paz is gone as of now... floating in UFA-land. Last I heard the Texans were talking to him.

Second, Cam is the wild card. I think he'll get his RT shot thru Camp/preseason, fail at it and be cut... but he's led a charmed life so far, so I could well be wrong here.

Third, Greco... I wish I were more confident in his full recovery. I suspect he sees the PUP list early, but hope I am wrong.

I think the starting five look to be: Thomas - Bito - Tretter - Zeitler - Coleman. But I will say again, look for the starting Center competition to be the closest of the five.

Drango seems safe as our OG/OT swingman. I wish Paz was joining him, but he's not. Anyway Drango makes six.

With Cam gone and Greco on PUP, the last two slots can go to Reiter and Fabiano as OC/OG swingmen, but I doubt they do due to being thin at OT. One will have emerged from the Center competition as a contender, I suspect it will be Reiter, but that's only based upon the fact that he was the first to replace Cam in 2016. Fabs was good in his one appearance.

Right now the other OL on the roster include: Bailey, Ikard, Martin and Sterup. At 6'9 only Zack Sterup is a pure OT so give him the edge at sticking. However, we are still #1 in line on the waiver wire not to mention the draft and UDFA. One or both routes will add a PS candidate or two.

I don't see us adding an OL early in the draft, but then I'm the guy that did not think we'd aggressively add OL via FA...

@unsympathetic said:

Pasztor is, I believe a FA...and not signed with Browns. And it seems that perhaps they do not want him back. So don't count on him. Coleman/Drango maybe.

@tour2ma said:

Well....perception was that the Browns OL was weakened badly by letting The Schwartz leave. I mean....the one stat that you didn't quote was: Browns 66 sacks, 17 more than any other team in the league. Now....sure,you can't say that that was simply a factor of not having Schwartz here....but it could be a small factor.

JT/Bitonio/Tretter/Zeitler/ ?

Pasztor vs Shon Coleman for the starting RT?

Drango / Greco for the one swing C/G roster spot?

Who gets cut or traded? Or do we keep 8 OL and call Drango a blocking TE?

Fabiano and Reiter.. are camp fodder?

@the-gipper said:

You sure about that?

From PFF:

The Chiefs’ line is a unit that was good, but not great, across the board this season. There was no real weak link, but neither did anybody really dominate consistently over the entire year. C Mitch Morse was the team’s best player; he went through the season without allowing a sack, giving up just 13 total QB pressures over 628 pass-blocking snaps. Mitchell Schwartz didn’t quite live up to his last season in Cleveland, while Eric Fisher on the other side continues his marginal improvement, still exhibiting more issues than you would like as a pass blocker.

Then there's Pro Football Outsiders' ALY (Adjusted Line Yards) directional rushing results over Right Tackle... http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/ol

• KC - Schwartz: 2.93 yds - 28th
• CLE - Pasztor: 3.64 yds - 16th

I know I've seen individual OL PassPro stats before... hurries, knockdowns, etc. ... but they are eluding google at present.

@the-gipper said:

If Gordon has really cleaned up his act this time, it is definitely worth it to let him try and make something of himself. They have little to lose, and if he balls out but they still don't trust him, they at least improved his trade value.

@jrb12711 said:

I don't mind the Browns doing this in this case...because they picked up a guy that could be just as good or better.

Now last year, when essentially the same thing happened with The Schwartz, it was not so good, because they had no replacement anywhere as good as Schwartz.

And hey....in my opinion...this STILL leads to the possibility that Josh Gordon could make it back into the good graces of the Browns. Talent wise there is no one out there better. Chemistry/character wise? Who knows. But I say there if no real risk in it for the Browns. If he comes back, keeps his nose clean...literally and figuratively, and balls out, all good for the Browns. If not...if he has lost his talent...or fucks up again, they are no worse off than the are now.