2012 NFL Free Agency Thread

[RipCity32]

Stanton is kind of cool.

 

[.infamous]

Stanton bout to take that starting spot from Sanchez

 

[Elite]

Also useless

 

[RipCity32]

Sanchez is pretty worthless too lol.

 

[Hurricane Season]

I'll give Sanchez another year. I've believed all along that he's been somewhat held back by Schotty. We'll see.

 

[Elite]

I'll give Sanchez another year. I've believed all along that he's been somewhat held back by Schotty. We'll see.

The voice of reason.

 

[cruzg24]

I'll give Sanchez another year. I've believed all along that he's been somewhat held back by Schotty. We'll see.

Yea Shottys been holding back that 55.3 career completion percentage, lol.

 

[Hurricane Season]

Yea Shottys been holding back that 55.3 career completion percentage, lol.

Predictable play-calling (draw, draw, draw), and trying to run wildcat packages that haven't worked since 2008 will put your team in a bad situation on 3rd down. It's not easy to complete a ton of passes on 3rd and long when they know what you're going to do.

I'm not saying that is the entirety of the problem, but piss poor playcalling is a huge detriment to any team, obviously.

 

[Rice18]

Atogwe will visit the Lions next week, the team's official website reported Friday. The ex-Redskins safety also has a visit scheduled with the Vikings.

PLEASE COME TO MINNY

 

[bosoxlover12]

OJ hasn't been good in years

 

[Elite]

Better than whoever the Vikes could throw out there

 

[Rice18]

Better than whoever the Vikes could throw out there

This x100

Our secondary is the worst in the league.

 

[.infamous]

@alexmarvez Eric Winston heading to #Lions for a Monday visit if deal doesn't get done today with the #Chiefs.

please don't get a deal done with the chiefs

 

[WHO-DEY-BENGALS_18]

Bengals actually signed a guy... Unbelievable.. Can't believe it

Travelle Wharton -- He's getting older, but an upgrade over Nate Livings.

 

[bosoxlover12]

"A miserable combination."

That's what he called it.

Add the cold weather in Cleveland, he said, to the sorry state of the Browns, and what do you get?

"A miserable combination."

Super Bowl hero Mario Manningham should know, because the Warren native grew up in our little Northeast Ohio corner of the universe.

In a Tuesday interview conducted on Cleveland.com, the Giants' free agent wide receiver was asked about Cleveland as a possible destination for himself or other players around the NFL.

Manningham did not mince words.

"A lot of players wouldn't (want to play in Cleveland). Like, I'm not trying to put the organization down," he said just before putting the organization down. "But a lot of players, that wouldn't be in their top choices. Because everybody says how cold it is in Cleveland. And team-wise … so it's a miserable combination."

Wham with the right hand.

So no one wants to come to Cleveland as a "top choice." OK. We can live with that. We're not the sexiest city in the nation, and the Browns haven't had a wealth of success in recent years.

But what about as a second choice? Or a third? Or how about as a worst-case scenario? Certainly players who know the city well — guys how have local ties — would be interested in coming to Cleveland, right?

Asked if he had personally considered signing with the Browns, the team just a few miles down the turnpike from his boyhood home, Manningham was equally blunt:

"No. Not really."

Wham, again.

No one is here to suggest, by the way, that the former Michigan star should be a prime target for the Browns in free agency. Truth is, in the mad rush to sign elite wide receivers on the first day of free agency this week, Manningham wasn't high on anyone's radar. He's a third-tier player in a free agency class that included the likes of Vincent Jackson, Marques Colston, Reggie Wayne, Robert Meachem and Pierre Garcon.

Still, Manningham will be a productive player for someone this season, and to hear him so casually dismiss Cleveland as a potential destination is disheartening.

The question is "Why?"

Why doesn't anyone want to become a part of the Browns organization unless they're out of options or unless the Browns desperately overpay for them?

Is Manningham right about the weather? Sure, it gets cold along the lakefront here in the winter, but New England, Green Bay, Denver, Buffalo, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, among others, aren't exactly Bahamian islands, either. I don't hear many players dismissing those franchises as places they'd like to avoid. There has to be more to it than that.

Is it the front office? The coaching staff? The ownership? Or maybe it's just the culture of losing that has been impossible for this franchise to shake since its return in 1999. Whatever it is, it's real and it's palpable.

It was a very lonely feeling on Tuesday as teams around the league dashed for elite receivers like overnight sidewalk-sleepers when the doors spring open at Target at 4 a.m. on Black Friday. General Managers were knocking over shelves, overturning carts and tripping over themselves to throw money at the best available pass catchers, while the Browns sat sleeping in the car.

Jackson got a king's ransom from the Buccaneers, Wayne and Colston re-signed with their current teams, Garcon and Josh Morgan got big deals from the Redskins, and three-time Pro Bowler Brandon Marshall was dealt to Chicago for a pair of third-round picks.

In Cleveland, the Browns watched the parade of riches go by, clutching the $19.2 million they have under the salary cap tighter than Jimmy Dimora's grip on a prison lunch tray.

Apparently General Manager Tom Heckert wasn't kidding when he declared a week ago that "We're not going to go crazy in free agency. We're just not."

Heckert's reasoning is sound — that the proper way to build a consistent winner is through the draft — but at least one or two of the Browns' myriad of problems could possibly be solved through free agency, couldn't they?

It doesn't look promising.

According to Heckert's more detailed explanation, the reason players become free agents is usually because there's something wrong with them.

"I go back to my old rule," the GM explained. "There's always a reason these guys are available. There's some reason the team doesn't want him … whatever that reason is, there's something there."

Heckert's comments present a rather interesting chicken-and-egg situation: Manningham says free agent players don't want to be in Cleveland, while Heckert has decided that Cleveland doesn't want free agents in town.

Which came first?

Whichever one is true, it is even more apparent now that the Browns must hit home runs with virtually every one of their draft picks. With holes at receiver, running back, quarterback, offensive line, linebacker and cornerback, Heckert will have his work cut out for him getting them all filled with little or no swimming in the free agent pool.

Bob Frantz hosts "The Bob Frantz Show" on WTAM-AM 1100 from 7 p.m. to midnight weeknights, and following Cavaliers, Indians and Browns games.

 

[elcheato]

In other relevant shocking news, the sky is blue.

 

[Giantmetfan07]

you couldn't trim that bad boy down to a few sentences for us?

"Mario Manningham says Cleveland is cold and sucks. The end."

 

[The Young One]

Chiefs signed Eric Winston..LOVE the move

 

[.infamous]

Chiefs agree to terms with Brady Quinn.

GONNA BE THE CHIEFS STARTER REAL SOON

 

[Elite]

Like what the Chiefs have done this off-season.

If Peyton Hillis can get healthy he'll be a great compliment to Charles, they have the default RB duo in a speedy, elusive guy paired with a big bruiser.

Eric Winston was one of the best FAs in the class too.