Browns sign Jakeem Grant, release Austin Hooper

   While the residents of Cleveland Browns nation debated whether the team should pursue DeShaun Watson from Houston and whether or not Baker Mayfield is getting a fair shake from the front office, the work of the off-season continued as the Browns signed one player, re-signed two others, and announced plans to release another after June 1st.

Let's start with the newest Brown as Cleveland made its latest attempt to find someone to solve the problems in returning kicks and punts that have existed since Josh Cribbs left town and maybe this time, they may have gotten it right as the Browns signed wide receiver/ return man Jakeem Grant from the Chicago Bears with a three-year contract worth just under fourteen million dollars.

Grant made his first Pro Bowl last season after playing a few games for Miami before being traded to Chicago, averaging twenty-three yards per kick return and just under twelve yards per punt return with one punt returned for a touchdown.

Grant was Miami's sixth-round selection in 2016 out of Texas Tech and spent his entire career in Miami before the midseason trade that saw the Bears send the Dolphins a 2023 sixth-round draft pick.

Grant has also seen action occasionally at wide receiver, finishing this season with eleven catches and 132 yards with two touchdowns.

Grant will hopefully be able to solve the problem that has existed for quite a while.

The Browns announced that they will be releasing tight end Austin Hooper with a post-June 1 designation in order to roll some of the cap hit over two seasons rather than one.

By holding onto Hooper until June, the Browns will be able to save nine million of Hooper's cap number after his release.

Hooper was a highly touted signing in 2020 after Hooper had made the Pro Bowl in both 2018 and 2019 with over seventy catches in each season and the Browns signed him to a four-year contract that seemed to have solidified tight end in the Kevin Stefanski offense.

But Hooper struggled in Cleveland with "chemistry" with Baker Mayfield and developed an alarming tendency to fall down as soon as he caught the football, finishing with a low in receiving numbers that hadn't been seen since Hooper's rookie season.

Hooper caught only 38 passes for 345 yards and only three touchdowns and with his disappointing numbers and needing to give David Njoku a raise, it was a foregone conclusion that Hooper was likely to be a cap casualty.

The Browns re-signed two players, one of those a starter as linebacker Anthony Walker and tackle Chris Hubbard each returned to the Browns.

Anthony Walker signed with the Browns last season after leaving the Colts on a one-year contract and is returning on another one-year contract worth five million dollars.

The twenty-six-year-old Walker was a solid if unspectacular player who started twelve of the thirteen games that he played in 2021.

Walker finished the season with 69 solo tackles and a sack and is expected to be in the middle with Jeremiah Owusu-Koaramoah and  Jacob Phillips on each side of him.

The other transaction was the Browns retaining 30-year-old veteran offensive lineman Chris Hubbard with a one-year deal for an undisclosed amount.

The veteran can play guard or tackle and was injured for the season in the opener against Kansas City after suffering a triceps injury.

Hubbard is expected to provide depth at both offensive line positions.

Browns add three on free agency eve

Free agency wasn't supposed to start until Wednesday, but teams were coming to agreements with players left and right even though they couldn't sign them officially.
It's unlikely, but teams or players that have "agreements" could change their mind before the start of free agency.

The Cleveland Browns were no different as they came to agreements with three linemen- two on the offensive line and one on the defensive side of the football.

The Browns signed two players away from division rivals and both will either be key parts of a rotation or start, although I would imagine they are being signed to start.
Tackle Chris Hubbard was signed from the Steelers and will most likely challenge Shon Coleman at right tackle, although he could move to left tackle in the event Joe Thomas announces his retirement in the next few days.
Hubbard's contract with the Browns is worth 37.5 million over five years, which is sizable for a right tackle, but even if the Browns convince Thomas to return, Hubbard could play right tackle for a year or rotate in and out as Hubbard can play tackle or guard.
Hubbard was more of the latter with the Steelers although he did start ten games for Pittsburgh last season.
Todd Haley is a fan of Hubbard and likely played a part both recommending Hubbard as well as a part of Hubbard signing on his part, so that alone speaks well of him, but I also looked up a few Steelers sites and all of those said that the team would miss Hubbard.
One, in particular, wrote that Hubbard played so well in his replacement of injured.suspended Marcus Gilbert that they knew that they were going to lose him because they couldn't afford him after that stretch of play.
When the team that loses a player talks in terms of wishing they could have kept him, you usually are getting a solid player and I think the Browns have done so with Chris Hubbard.

The Browns added another player to the offensive line as they signed Donald Stephenson to a one year deal for 2.5 million.
Stephenson last played for Denver but was very familiar to John Dorsey as he played for the Chiefs during Dorsey's tenure there.
Stephenson is expected to be a backup and will provide depth as a backup.

On the defensive line, the Browns added Chris Smith from the Bengals on a three-year deal worth 14 and a half million.
The 26-year-old Smith spent last season in Cincinnati after spending his first three years with the Jaguars and finished with three sacks as a rotational piece on the Bengals line.
Smith is mainly a defensive end, although he can play defensive tackle in a pinch and played about a third of the snaps in Cincinnati.
Hopefully, at the cost of Smith's contract, that number increases in Cleveland.
The Cincinnati Enquirer writes that Smith began to develop some pass rush ability with the Bengals and noted that the Bengals wanted to keep him, but the Browns extra salary cap space exceeded what the Bengals could afford to pay.

I'm anxious to see what the Browns can pull off today.
They are reported to be in the hunt for Nate Solder of the Patriots to replace Joe Thomas and Terrelle Pryor to return from Washington to boost the receiving corps, but all of the top cornerbacks that the Browns were going after to boost the secondary signed elsewhere, so the Browns might not be able to sign the caliber of corner that they were hoping to ink to a contract.
We'll see more of John Dorsey's plans over the next few days...