Browns sign Brian Hartline

The Cleveland Browns began to address their painfully obvious issues at wide receiver on the evening before free agency's start with the signing of Brian Hartline to a two year contract.

Hartline,who is from Canton and played his college football at Ohio State,saw his numbers drop last season,but in the previous two seasons,Hartline caught over seventy passes and over one thousand receiving yards in each.

The 6'2 Hartline isn't a speed burner,but possesses enough speed to keep defenses honest and should be a badly needed upgrade to the corps.
At worst,Hartline should be to match or exceed what Miles Austin did last season for the Browns.
Austin is a free agent,but I would be in favor of the Browns attempting to bring Austin back to the team.
Hartline does not eliminate the issue of lacking a true number one receiver,but adding him to Andrew Hawkins,who might able to move to the slot position that he was signed to play and Taylor Gabriel does make things better at the position.
I still believe the Browns need another receiver either early in the draft or another veteran,although a veteran that would be available in the market would be more along the lines of Hartline and not a true lead receiver.

In any case,Hartline is a upgrade at an affordable cost (three million per year) and considering that he will not count as a free agent signing (Miami released him),the Browns could be possibly adding compensation picks for the first time in a while in the 2016 draft.
I'll expound more on that in the Browns free agency recap,but it is an interesting strategy to consider.