The Brown and Orange Report

[vaughn99]

Berea -- The Browns organization was quiet following their 16th week, despite entering the final week of the year on the verge of their first SFL playoff berth in 5 years.

Before their season finale game vs their rival Steelers though, the Texans completed their meteoric "worst to first" story by defeating the Chicago Bears, and the Browns were out of contention. Dejected by this and a loss in the family, ownership went into hiding, and the league was forced to conduct the business at hand -- completing resigns and drops for the team leading up tot he draft.

"We were in a dark place" the team president announced.

But before things could go totally awry, the remaining players had a secretive meeting, urging ownership to return and finish the job they'd begun. A draft and free-agency plan was developed, and before the weeks' end, the Browns had put into place their most significant sea-change in years, totally revitalizing their linebacking corps after releasing Titus Brown and Scott Fujita to free agency.

The Browns first step was to take outside linebacker Emmanuel Bell from LSU with the 12th overall selection in the draft. Bell is considered an ideal weakside linebacker prospect. He is a very good athlete, with the speed to fly around the field and has the ability to come off the edge and close on the quarterback, and the speed to chase backs down. Bell is very good in coverage, where his athleticism and speed allow him to stay stride for stride with his man and follow them all over the field.

Browns' Top Pick Bell

But with the announcement that the Browns were to be returning to a 3-4 base defense this year, a question popped up: who would line up alongside D'Qwell Jackson in the middle?

Enter A.J. Hawk, who would become the Brown's highest-profile free agency signing in a decade. While the Green Bay Packers decided early they were not going to pay his $10 million extension in 2014 released him, it did not take any time for “a bunch of teams tried to get their foot in the door” to sign Hawk, according to Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Shockingly to the Cleveland faithful, it was the Browns who came to the table with the most lucrative offer: 3 years and $30m and change. Hawk was free to go anywhere but it was clear all along that the Ohio-born Hawk wanted to play closer to home, and the Browns took that as an opportunity to bring him back. Now, both sides will be happy.

The rest of the Browns off-season wasn't without its own excitement. Gone were former "cornerstones" like Fujita, CB Bruce Johnson and back-ups QB Graham Harrell and HB Montario Hardesty, in were free agent signings CB Perrish Cox and HB Felix Jones along with rookies HB Tre'Vante Manning and QB Bobby Murray.

"We really feel like we're in position to contend this year."

[d11king]

Very nice offseason review write up.