@gumby73 said:

struggled to find a place to put this.. 

This former Brown is NOT done !

Was a Browns FA after the 2020 season with only 3 starts. Again, a short time in 2023 & re-signed back w/Texans (good team choice to bet on un-drafted-self)

Worth noting, since Browns slot corner position has been a off season concern.. Does anybody remember Browns UDFA CB Tavierre Thomas?

 https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/lists/best-slot-defenders-tavierre-thomas-jimmie-ward-derwin-james/ results surprised me too !

for a dead period? this has been a fairly good series to follow

The NFL’s top 11 interior defensive linemen
The NFL’s top 11 edge defenders
The NFL’s top 11 linebackers
The NFL’s top 11 slot defenders
The NFL’s top 11 cornerbacks
The NFL’s top 11 safeties

Solid depth piece and I remember Thomas being a very good special teams player for us as well.  Definitely  Worth a look at camp. 

This former Brown is NOT done !

Was a Browns FA after the 2020 season with only 3 starts. Again, a short time in 2023 & re-signed back w/Texans (good team choice to bet on un-drafted-self)

Worth noting, since Browns slot corner position has been a off season concern.. Does anybody remember Browns UDFA CB Tavierre Thomas?

 https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/lists/best-slot-defenders-tavierre-thomas-jimmie-ward-derwin-james/ results surprised me too !

for a dead period? this has been a fairly good series to follow

The NFL’s top 11 interior defensive linemen
The NFL’s top 11 edge defenders
The NFL’s top 11 linebackers
The NFL’s top 11 slot defenders
The NFL’s top 11 cornerbacks
The NFL’s top 11 safeties

@korsou-dawg said:

This. 

IF we have a need due to injuries, and IF the price is right, I wouldn't be against it. But those are some big ifs at this point.

Agree with Dutch, and Ford might not see as many regular snaps as I hope he does. We are likely to pass the ball more this season, and give Chubb a higher percentage of carries, without him actually seeing more snaps. Fewer snaps for other guys, with the same risk of injury for him.  

Earlier this year, I went back and got Jerome Ford's highlights and posted them from the last year he played for the U of Cincy.  The guy was the biggest weapon on a college team that nobody predicted would make the BCS Playoffs scoring 20 TDs that final year he played for them.  He was a very good receiver out of the backfield and he averaged 6.2 yards a carry.  He reminded me a lot of Greg Pruitt; and ironically he will also be wearing #34 for the Browns.  Greg Pruitt had to do the special teams while Leroy Kelly was on the final leg of his Hall of Fame career.  As a rookie he had 61 carries for 369 yards at 6.05 yds per carry and 4 TDs.  This was at a time people wondered how do you replace a HOF RB.  

Part of this might be wishful thinking, but I really feel like Ford can add another dimension that the wear and tear you guys alluded to didn't permit Hunt to provide last year.  FWIW, I think the Browns were good to Hunt and vice versa.  There's 32 teams so I think it may be worth his while to go somewhere that will at least give him a 2nd RB workload with an opportunity for more (if he feels he's still capable).   He knows his body better than anyone.  When I  watch Zeke Elliott play - wear and tear took a lot of lightning and thunder out of that guy's legs.  I don't think Hunt has that much mileage on him yet so we'll see what happens there.  

Up until he passed away 2 months ago, why not call Jim Brown a free agent?

Also, as the article indicated, some guys just sit back and wait.  Clowney has done that for a while now.  A few of those guys will be on rosters soon enough.

@dutch-oven said:

I'm actually kind of looking forward to seeing what Ford can do as the #2. 

This. 

@sdbacker80 said:

Assuming we are naming the price to bring Hunt back…bringing Hunt back comes at the expense of losing Felton?  I think we stockpiled some shifty explosive guys where the intrigue of keeping Felton is over.  If/when a Back goes down Hunt is a better insurance policy to carry the ball than Felton is…why not bring him back? 

IF we have a need due to injuries, and IF the price is right, I wouldn't be against it. But those are some big ifs at this point.

Agree with Dutch, and Ford might not see as many regular snaps as I hope he does. We are likely to pass the ball more this season, and give Chubb a higher percentage of carries, without him actually seeing more snaps. Fewer snaps for other guys, with the same risk of injury for him.  

@korsou-dawg said:

Spot on!

Highly unlikely. From the leaks I have read in the media, consensus is that he has lost a step, or more. It seems age and injuries have caught up with him. Classic tale of the running back. If we could have had the 'tazmanian devil' from a couple of years ago back, absolutely no discussion.   

Assuming we are naming the price to bring Hunt back…bringing Hunt back comes at the expense of losing Felton?  I think we stockpiled some shifty explosive guys where the intrigue of keeping Felton is over.  If/when a Back goes down Hunt is a better insurance policy to carry the ball than Felton is…why not bring him back? 

@korsou-dawg said:

Spot on!

Highly unlikely. From the leaks I have read in the media, consensus is that he has lost a step, or more. It seems age and injuries have caught up with him. Classic tale of the running back. If we could have had the 'tazmanian devil' from a couple of years ago back, absolutely no discussion.   

Well my main point was he doesn't have to be blazing fast to be productive.. Not disagreeing with ya.. But in all likely hood.. Yeah the Browns have moved on...

@brownsfan92 said:

Yeesh.

Sometimes our brown and orange glasses can really taint how good someone actually is...

Spot on!

@nickers said:

Well if Hunt is still on the Market.. I'd still like to have him... I'll remind you of a runner that Bill Parcells had who really wasn't fast.. His name was OJ Anderson and Bill rode that dude like mule for 3 yards and a first down on the way to a couple of SB's... So... While Hunt might be aging.. I do believe there's a role for him...

EDIT: We of course aren't built like that team... On offense were going to a bit more finesse I suppose... It's just how the league is.. At least with Chubb and our D.. We still have that Blood n Guts element to our team...

Highly unlikely. From the leaks I have read in the media, consensus is that he has lost a step, or more. It seems age and injuries have caught up with him. Classic tale of the running back. If we could have had the 'tazmanian devil' from a couple of years ago back, absolutely no discussion.   

EDIT: We of course aren't built like that team... On offense were going to a bit more finesse I suppose... It's just how the league is.. At least with Chubb and our D.. We still have that Blood n Guts element to our team...

@korsou-dawg said:

This full list of unsigned former Browns is quite something

https://brownswire.usatoday.com/lists/browns-jadeveon-clowney-kareem-hunt-unsigned-2023/

Yeesh.

Sometimes our brown and orange glasses can really taint how good someone actually is...

Kareem is probably asking way too much.

John Johnson, that one hurts.  I had such high hopes for him.

Troy Hill, at least we have his awesome training camp fight.

https://brownswire.usatoday.com/lists/browns-jadeveon-clowney-kareem-hunt-unsigned-2023/

@syd said:

actually it was weed and what is hilarious is that you have kept a picture of a grown man all these year's 

Well it wasn't intentionally kept.. It just wound up on an old back up disk in a book packed away somewhere lol

@nickers said:

Because I think it's incredibly hilarious yet sad he chose booze over football.. Kind of like you did...

actually it was weed and what is hilarious is that you have kept a picture of a grown man all these year's 

@syd said:

one} how in the hell would i know that

two} why do you even still bother to have that picture

Because I think it's incredibly hilarious yet sad he chose booze over football.. Kind of like you did...

@nickers said:

No it was one someone posted dork dribble

one} how in the hell would i know that

two} why do you even still bother to have that picture

@syd said:

so you took a picture of some dude drinking a beer ? did you even ask him if that was cool ?

No it was one someone posted dork dribble

@nickers said:

I still have a picture of Josh drinking in an Atlanta bar... It's well obvious what he really cared about.. And it wasn't Football...

so you took a picture of some dude drinking a beer ? did you even ask him if that was cool ?

@neo said:

All he had to do was show up and do the things he is capable of doing and the Browns would have thrown a pile of money at him. So it really is like the Joker lighting that pile of money on fire. 

I still have a picture of Josh drinking in an Atlanta bar... It's well obvious what he really cared about.. And it wasn't Football...

@dutch-oven said:

Josh Gordon in 2013 was the best Cleveland Browns player I have seen in my roughly 40 years of watching the team.

I've never seen a Browns player play at that level for that one year. He was a man among boys. 

All he had to do was show up and do the things he is capable of doing and the Browns would have thrown a pile of money at him. So it really is like the Joker lighting that pile of money on fire. 

@orion said:

What was his thing while he was with us?  Credit Card fraud?  I forget, but was one of our 3 thug WR set at the time.

ya he pulled some kind of bullshit while in collage. I just remember him getting pulled over with the kind in his car

@neo said:

Josh Gordon in 2013 was the best Cleveland Browns player I have seen in my roughly 40 years of watching the team.

I've never seen a Browns player play at that level for that one year. He was a man among boys. 

@sdbacker80 said:

It makes perfect sense…Some of these guys never escape the troubled background they grow up in

@flugel said:

It sure does. 

@sdbacker80 said:

It makes perfect sense…Some of these guys never escape the troubled background they grow up in and the troublemaking circle that was around them is present into their 20s and 30s.  In fact they are target now.  Also, some of them have grown up with nothing and lived on public assistance and having money in their pocket 200K-300K for the first time presents greater trouble making opportunities.  Let’s not forget  It isnt hard to make dumb @ss choices in your 20s 

It sure does.  There was a kid in Rochester, NY that was an All State QB and All State Basketball player as a soph. for Charlotte High School that was a State Champion in Football.  The school had to drop sports and music programs; and the same kid became a gang member and got arrested his junior year.  When you erase hope - you invite trouble.  It really is that simple unfortunately...