Cleveland Browns decline to tag any of their free agents
By Thomas Moore
The Cleveland Browns opted not to tag any of the team’s unrestricted free agents, meaning they now run the risk of losing them in free agency.
As expected, the Cleveland Browns declined to use the franchise tag or transition tag on any of their impending free agents before the NFL mandated deadline of 4 p.m.
The Browns still hold exclusive negotiation rights with their free agents, most notably right tackle Mitchell Schwartz, wide receiver Travis Benjamin and safety Tashaun Gipson, but if they can’t work out a new deal before the league year begins on March 9 and free agency opens, they run the risk of losing another batch of free agents.
Executive vice president of football operations Sashi Brown gave everyone a heads up last week that he expected today to be a quiet one for the Browns.
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“We don’t expect [to use a tag],” Brown said at the 2016 NFL Scouting Combine. “We know those are kind of tools in the toolbox here, but we don’t expect to do that. I think there a couple of players that you would say we might at those positions, Tashaun in particular. We would hope to come to a long-term deal with Tashaun, so I don’t expect it at this point.”
It was presumed that if the Browns were going to use one of the tag options it would have been to retain Gipson because the franchise tag price for a safety is $10.8 million, making him the most “cost-effective” of the three. Gipson made the Pro Bowl in 2014, but that salary would have made him the top-paid safety in the NFL, which would not make much sense after his disappointing 2015 season.
The same could be said of Benjamin, a nice receiver coming off a career year that would have been even better if Josh McCown had been healthy enough to start all 16 games at wide receiver. But a franchise tag price of $14.599 million is a number that no team would pay Benjamin.
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If the Browns were going to use the tag – and if they can only retain one of their impending free agents – it should be Schwartz, who in four years has developed into one of the best right tackles in the NFL. While some have argued that placing the franchise tag on Schwartz, at a cost of $13.706 million would have been fool hardy as it would have temporarily made Schwartz the highest paid lineman in the league, that’s a silly argument.
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There are no quality options to replace Schwartz if he leaves, meaning the Browns are running a big risk that they might lose a player who won’t truly be appreciated until after he is gone.
Speaking of players who may be on the way out, the next major deadline for the team comes on Friday when center Alex Mack has to decide if he will opt out of his current contract and become an unrestricted free agent.
Brown said that the team is preparing for the possibility of Mack leaving if they can’t work out a new deal with him before Friday’s deadline, meaning that Cleveland is looking at the real possibility of losing 40 percent of the team’s one strength.
Other free agents of lesser importance include inside linebacker Craig Robertson and special teams players Johnson Bademosi and Tank Carder, all unrestricted free agents; and safety Don Jones, offensive lineman Austin Pasztor, wide receiver Terrelle Pryor and outside linebacker Scott Solomon, who are all restricted free agents.