The Browns were "certainly standing out as outliers" following the first 24 hours of free agency, but "not in a particularly positive manner," according to Jason La Canfora of CBSSPORTS.com. Already "facing needs and voids all over the roster" after the departures of coach Mike Pettine and GM Ray Farmer, the Browns "created new ones at a time when an already talent-thin free agent class was being picked bone thin even before the new league year officially kicked in." The team has $44.5M in available salary cap space, but there is "no need to panic." Free agency is "generally fool's gold, especially when grossly overspending to sign players whom their current teams are willing to part with." Also, the Browns are "so far from competing that going out and trying to morph into a contender via free agency would be pure folly." It "wasn't a debacle or a disaster, as some have characterized it, though it certainly heightened some of the growing pains of this latest rebranding of the front office and added to the team's perception problems among some agents and among its fan base" (CBSSPORTS.com, 3/10). However, ESPN's Adam Schefter said some players and agents told him Browns players "treat the Browns organization like it's a college experience: Four years and done." Schefter: “It's up to (coach) Hue Jackson to change that culture.” ESPN's Mark Dominik said it is a “frightening situation to walk into right now, knowing that you’ve got players that don’t want to be there." Dominik: "You’ve got money that you’re going to have to spend, and it’s going to be hard to recruit now that free agency has already passed that 24-hour window” ("SportsCenter," ESPN, 3/10).
PATIENCE, PLEASE: This is the first offseason with new Exec VP/Football Operations Sashi Brown and Chief Strategy Officer Paul DePodesta in charge, and in Cleveland, Dennis Manoloff writes Browns fans "can't have it both ways." They "can't beg for regime change and, soon after it happens, moan and groan and give the new regime negligible benefit of the doubt." The Browns "obviously want to rebuild, and rebuilds -- at least the ones worth anything -- take time" (Cleveland PLAIN DEALER, 3/11). In Cleveland, Terry Pluto writes it is now "all about the draft and getting it right." Building through the draft "is everything in the early years of the new front office." The plan is to "add as many draft picks as possible in the next few years" under Brown and DePodesta. The analytics school of football is "all about adding picks." It is about "not being afraid to lose veteran players to free agency." It is also about trading down far more often than trading up in the draft" (Cleveland PLAIN DEALER, 3/11).
WIN-NOW APPROACH IN N.Y.: The Giants took the opposite approach to free agency than the Browns, spending more than $200M in signing four defensive players. ESPN’s Damien Woody called the signings "desperation moves." ESPN's Herm Edwards: "There’s only so much time on this clock, so we have to go about building a football team quickly through free agency. You’ve got to give (coach) Ben McAdoo the ability to say, ‘You know what, I won a couple years.’ … How do you help him? You’ve got to go out and get a veteran presence on defense." ESPN's Trey Wingo said the Giants' spending spree is a "radical departure from how they have operated their business." Wingo: "That sounds a little bit like, ‘Hey, we have got to try something here’” (“NFL Live,” ESPN2, 3/10). SNY’s Marc Malusis said it is “remarkable, really, how much heat and pressure is on (Senior VP & GM) Jerry Reese for this team to win in 2016.” The N.Y. Daily News’ Bob Raissman said, “The amount of money they spent for all that talent -- if it’s only talent on paper, (Reese) is gone” (“Daily News Live,” SNY, 3/10).
