One year removed from providing the most exciting, most fun, month in the expansion Browns era, Joe Flacco is slowly moving into a reunion with the Browns.
You must have an active subscription to read this story.
Click Here to subscribe Now!
Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland. He has covered the Browns since 1984.
PALM BEACH, FL
Leftover takeaways from NFL annual meeting …
Next destination for Air Haslam: Boulder, CO.
The Browns’ brain-trust departs here on Thursday for the final leg of the team’s pre-draft scouting trips on the campus of the University of Colorado, aka Prime U.
GM Andrew Berry, coach Kevin Stefanski and, yes, owner Jimmy Haslam will visit with Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders and his family, and probably same with two-way Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter.
The visit will not include a physical workout, a source told TheLandOnDemand, because the two stars will join their draft-eligible teammates for Colorado pro day workouts on Friday. The Browns don’t want to interfere with the pro day and they believe they have more than enough intel to evaluate Sanders and Hunter as football players.
There will be exposure to the Browns’ offensive system to see how Sanders assimilates it, but the primary purpose of the trip is to get to know Sanders and Hunter and their families.
“I can't evaluate the quarterbacks and who throws better,” Haslam said at the NFL annual meeting. “What is really nice is we have dinner with them before. We encourage them to bring their parents, if they have a girlfriend to bring their girlfriend, and we'll spend two or three hours getting to know the person, and that's what's been helpful to me.
“I'll say this, we've had four of 'em [personal visits]. And got two more to go. Really three, because we're doing two at Colorado. Every one of them are really good, young people. I mean really good, young people. So that's the positive for me.”
(Haslam's reference to an additional personal visit might be a nod to a possible visit with Arizona receiver Tetairoa McMillan. A source told TheLandOnDemand that the team has not decided if they will take place, however.)
Haslam said the reason he attends the workouts is two-fold.
“No. 1, you get to know the person,” Haslam said. “Who we pick at No. 2 is hugely important. The expectations are to be a good athlete, but you want to understand what kind of person they are, how important football is to them. It's great when you can meet the parents and understand their background. Another thing is it gives us great opportunity to spend time with [Berry and Stefanski].”
The Colorado trip – following trips to Tuscaloosa, AL (Jalen Milroe), Coral Gables, FL (Cam Ward), and Oxford, MS (Jaxson Dart) – will be the personal highlight for Haslam. He is upbeat about meeting Deion Sanders, aka Coach Prime, and father of Shedeur.
“I've never met Deion and I'm looking forward to meeting him,” Haslam said. “Andrew had dinner with him back in January and said it went really well and I've heard nothing but great things about the job he's done at Colorado.”
Unfinished business
The main void for the Browns to fill in free agency is another veteran quarterback.
In my opinion, it will not be Kirk Cousins.
In my opinion, Joe Flacco is back in the picture.
At the NFL annual meeting this week, the Browns have been purposely vague when interrogated by me about a Flacco reunion. Why?
In this era of social media, every quote is used as leverage in contract negotiations. The smarter teams try hard not to shift the leverage to the player with public comments.
I do know this: National “insiders” are continuing to link Cousins to the Browns because of the connection to Stefanski.
But a Cousins trade to the Browns is not likely to happen for the following reasons:
1. They have a very limited cash and salary cap budget for this roster spot. Cousins was attractive on a minimum NFL salary – a la Russell Wilson last year – but not at a $5 million+ price.
2. The Browns don’t want to give up a draft pick asset for Cousins. OK, maybe a sixth- or seventh-rounder. But nothing higher.
3. Cousins wants assurance he will be a starter. The Browns won’t give him that assurance. They made that decision when they traded for Kenny Pickett, whom the Browns consider a viable competitor for a starter’s role.
4. Flacco has lost the buzz league-wide created by his comeback player-of-the-year stint with the Browns. There is no apparent market for him. He should come in at $4 million or lower.
I don’t know when a transaction for Flacco will take place. Maybe after the draft, if he’s still unsigned. I do know the Browns are open to it, despite their public indifference to him.
Some love for Kenny Pickett
The Eagles were very, very satisfied with Pickett’s contribution to their Super Bowl championship.
“Kenny did a great job of being able to step in and play really good football when his time was called,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said. “[He] helped us be in a position to win a game against Washington. Helped us win a game against the Cowboys. We felt very comfortable with him as our backup, that if he had to go into the game, which he did, that he'd be able to succeed and put our team with an opportunity to win, which he did.”
Former Eagles offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, who left after the Super Bowl to become head coach of the Saints, was a fan of Pickett, too.
“Transitions are huge for quarterbacks,” Moore said. “Sometimes a fresh start can be very, very valuable.
“Kenny came to us, obviously, going through an experience where he played a lot at Pittsburgh really early. We were really excited to get him, and I feel like his growth just took off as the season progressed, and you can certainly see the player that showed up in OTAs versus the player who played against Dallas late in the year. A very different player. The confidence was there. I thought he played at a really high level.
“I think he's got a good arm. He's got a great kind of patience to him, as far as his understanding of the game, his ability to process at a really high level. I think he's got some sneaky athleticism that allows him to make plays off schedule and out in space. He was very valuable to us to help us late in the year when Jalen [Hurts] wasn't available.”
I think Browns fans understandably are low on Pickett because of his two years with the Steelers. I also think Pickett is a more mature player now and the Browns' offense will be better-suited to his skills than whatever they were trying to do on offense in Pittsburgh in 2022 and 2023.
NFL rules news
Team owners voted to:
* Move the line of scrimmage to the 35-yard line following a kickoff that is downed in the end zone or goes out of the end zone.
* Revised the overtime rules for regular-season games to coincide with the post-season format. Each team now will be guaranteed one possession (even if a TD is scored first). But regular-season OTs will last only 10 minutes, as opposed to 15 in postseason.
* Tabled a ban on Philadelphia’s unstoppable “tush push” play. New wording of a proposal may be voted on at the next league meeting in May.
* Not to eliminate the automatic first down for defensive holding and illegal contact.