Take a picture of these guys taking a picture. Rashard Higgins might not walk the red carpet for the Browns again. (FOX8)
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland.
Takeaways from around the NFL as the business season approaches full boil …
Unless the Browns have a change of heart, or Rashard Higgins gives them an overly generous home-team discount, it’s appearing as though Baker Mayfield’s most trusted target will not return.
Spotrac.com projected a market value of $24 million over four years for Higgins in free agency. That $6 million-a-year figure puts him in the same class as Breshad Perriman, Willie Snead, and, yes, 33-year-old A.J. Green.
One rumor making the rounds is the Browns have offered Higgins a one-year contract for little more than double the $910,000 he made in 2020.
You’ve heard of the proverbial offer that could not be refused? If the Browns offered Higgins $2 million for one year, it’s an offer that could not be accepted.
GM Andrew Berry strongly hinted the Browns were not willing to approach the projected free-agent market number for Higgins in his Zoom media call last week.
“I will not touch on the specific dialogue we have had, but I think it suffice to say we would like to have Rashard back,” Berry said. “He obviously played a key role for us this past year and we have a really positive history with him. Look, free agency can be difficult, and obviously, he has earned the right to make the decision that is most appropriate for him. We will maintain consistently good communication with him and his reps. We will see where it goes.”
Higgins deserves better, of course, but Berry is handcuffed by the big contracts he inherited for Jarvis Landry and Odell Beckham Jr. Those deals total $30.5 million in salary cap figures, accounting for an estimated 15 percent of the Browns’ projected 2021 salary cap of $200 million+.
The Landry-Beckham conundrum is becoming Berry’s Gordian knot – an increasing problem that eventually has to be solved by bold action. But probably not this year.
The only hope for a Higgins return is if he doesn’t get the action in free agency he expects and he slinks back to the Browns for another year.
The free agent market is loaded with receivers who will cost more than Higgins -- T.Y. Hilton, Kenny Golladay, Sammy Watkins, Marvin Jones, Corey Davis, Will Fuller, Curtis Samuel, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Nelson Agholor, Zach Pascal, and Tyrell Williams.
Unfortunately, that means teams who covet a receiver at a lesser cost may turn to the second wave, in which Higgins resides.
New cornerback on the market
I’ve been touting cornerback Stephon Gilmore as a potential trade target for the Browns. On Tuesday, another veteran cornerback entered the free agent market, and he, coincidentally, was a former teammate of Gilmore with the Patriots.
He’s Malcolm Butler. The Titans saved $10 million by releasing Butler after three years into a five-year $61.25 million contract.
Butler, 31, was the hero of the Patriots’ 2014 season Super Bowl win when he intercepted Russell Wilson at the 1-yard line with the game on the line.
He joined Gilmore as starting cornerbacks on the Patriots’ 2017 Super Bowl team. Butler controversially was benched by coach Bill Belichick in the Super Bowl loss to the Eagles. Butler fled to Tennessee in free agency two months later.
Butler’s 2020 season with Tennessee statistically was the best of his seven-year career. He started 16 games, had a career-high 100 tackles and matched his career best with four interceptions.
Butler would be an intriguing acquisition for the Browns on a short-term deal.
Another Chubb?
Everyone knows the Pittsburgh Steelers need to revamp their 32nd-ranked rushing game and will draft a running back to replace free agent James Conner. Daniel Jeremiah of NFL Network suggested their solution could be Javonte Williams of North Carolina, whom Jeremiah compared to Nick Chubb.
“He's just like Nick Chubb, and when you watch him you see it,” Jeremiah said on a Zoom call with reporters. “When you talk to the coaches at North Carolina that have been -- they have some coaches there that have come from Georgia -- and they say that the similarities are eerie … just they're all business, physical, great leaders, can catch the ball out of the backfield, can do a lot of different things.
“I think that would be a heck of a pick [at No. 24 overall].”
Yo, Adrian
The release of defensive end Adrian Clayborn on Tuesday saved the Browns $3 million in salary cap room. More importantly, the move suggests the Browns are poised to make a pitch for a defensive end in free agency.
Clayborn, 32, had 3.5 sacks in spot duty in 2020. He wasn’t going to fill the void created by the expected departure of Olivier Vernon at left end. But his departure would seem to create the need for another veteran in the defensive line room.
Or, the Browns simply could be creating room to go big-game hunting for a pass rusher opposite Myles Garrett.