Grading the Browns Free Agency Moves and Breaking Down the Osweiler Trade  

 1.) Browns sign C J.C. Tretter (3 years 16.5 million, 10 guaranteed)

J.C. Tretter was probably the least groundbreaking of their official free agency moves thus far but it could end up being the most important one. There is no doubt the offensive line struggles last season allowing an unprecedented amount of sacks including 17 more than second place. After letting Alex Mack and Mitchell Schwartz leave in free agency and watching the impact it had, the front office was smart in attacking the line hard with a bad draft class for offensive lineman. Cam Erving was supposed to be the future at center but after poor performances and multiple benchings, it looks like this front office has had enough. Tretter was a former fourth round pick of the Packers and finally got to start in 2016 after missing most of his first two years with injuries and being a backup in 2015. However, he lost his starting job with another injury last season and never got the starting role back despite being ranked the ninth best center by profootballfocus. When healthy, he has proven he can be a starting center for a playoff team and while best at center could kick out to guard if need be. An argument can be made he was the best center available in free agency, with Nick Mangold of the Jets being seven years older than Tretter. For the money the Browns spent, he was an easy steal.

 

Thank God for Hue Jackson because I don’t see any other way Zeitler would have signed with the Browns. Not only did the Browns get the best offensive lineman in free agency, but they got someone Hue Jackson is familiar with coaching him in Cincinnati while taking one of the best players away from a division rival. Zeitler is a complete player and at just 27 years old has a lot of good years ahead of him. He deserved to be the highest paid guard in the league and while the Browns may have to overspend to bring in some people I think this contract is totally fair for him. He starts immediately at RG and improves that line tremendously.

 

The Browns had money to spend in free agency and one of the best ways to do that is lock up their key players. Unfortunately for the Browns they don’t have a lot of them but Bitonio is one of the few. The key with Bitonio is staying healthy. He’s missed 17 games over the last two seasons but when he’s healthy he could be a Pro Bowl guard. The value is fair for him but once again the injuries are a little concerning especially with an offensive lineman coming off a Lisfranc injury. I might have waited to see how he rebounds from it but if the team is confident he can be healthy it is a solid signing.

 

The Browns lost one of the few productive players who was developed within their organization, Terrelle Pryor, and are paying Britt more money than Pryor received from the Redskins, both per year and over time.

 

The Browns didn’t need more cap space but releasing RGIII will save the team almost another seven million dollars this year. I don’t think anybody knows who is going to be on the roster at QB in 2017 for Cleveland but RGIII didn’t belong. The experiment failed week one with yet another injury for him and he looked horrible when he came back from it. I thought that his performance down the stretch would be the last of his NFL career because of how he looked and there was no reason to pay seven million for that. I’d rather see the spot and money go to a young player the Browns can develop.

 

I am going to leave the grade as incomplete because I do not think the moves from this trade are done yet and there is so much that can go into this trade. For right now I will give it an A. The obvious move for the Browns would be to trade Osweiler. The problem is I don’t see many teams having the cap space to take on 16 million for him while giving up an asset in a draft pick to do so. If the Browns can do it then the trade is an A+ for getting a second round pick to hold the guy so the Texans can sign Romo immediately before dealing him for another pick. While I see that as unlikely, the Browns have two more options left in keeping him or releasing him. If the Browns keep him, they have the QB that was considered the prize QB of free agency last year and got a second round pick in doing so. He still has talent and he could be a bridge QB if the Browns want to draft somebody this year if they don’t feel that QB is ready to start. They could also see if he rebounds and keep him long term or if he struggles he can be released next spring without costing the Browns anything while the Browns can look to a stronger QB class in 2018 or possibly Kirk Cousins in free agency. All those options sound good. If the Browns release him, assuming he has offset language, then the Browns will not be on the hook for his entire 16 million if he signs elsewhere and pretty much bought a second round pick for 16 million at the worst. While 16 million sounds like way too much money to spend for a second round pick, the more I thought about it the more it makes sense from two points. The Browns must hit the NFL floor minimum eventually. The floor minimum states that a team must spend so much money over a certain period of time or face penalties. The Browns had 105 million in cap space going into free agency, so if they have to spend say 85% of that regardless of what they do, giving it to Osweiler is ok. If the Browns did not apply it to him, they would have to overspend on other free agents this year to get to that number. That’s another one or two players potentially that could end up getting horrible long term deals that negatively effects the Browns long term. The Browns also don’t have a lot of young players on the team worth resigning long term which is another good way to spend cap space. They resigned punter Britton Colquitt, long snapper Charley Hughlett, and guard Joel Bitonio thus far. The only other names that come to mind in that mix of players would be running back Isaiah Crowell, and linebacker Christian Kirksey. Without touching the Osweiler contract, the Browns have spent roughly 25 million or so towards in free agency with the RGIII release now. So the team still has about 70-80 million in cap space. Let’s just say they eat the whole 16 million this year. That could bring the number to 55-65 million still to spend and that 16 million automatically becomes available for next year. Instead of overspending all in one offseason the Browns just forwarded enough money to possibly go after a big name QB in free agency next year such as a Kirk Cousins or Jimmy Garoppolo if they hit the market or another big name free agent at another position. It just seems every way I break down the trade the Browns will seem to come out a winner. They gained trade assets, possibly have a bridge or future QB if that is what the team wants, or they get closer to floor minimum while opening up valuable cap space again next season. It’s an unprecedented trade in the NFL but seems like it was a good trade that may get better.