Browns teardown begins

It seems like most of the pro franchises here are in rebuilding mode, the Giants, Cavaliers, Devils, and the home improvement warehouse of professional football-the Cleveland Browns.

As the pendulum continues to swing from new regime to new regime, just as John Dorsey removed the Brown/DePodesta/Berry players from the roster, Andrew Berry is beginning to sweep out the John Dorsey players as the Browns released four players today, three of them signed by John Dorsey before the 2019 season with the other signed by Dorsey before the 2018 season.

Cornerback T.J. Carrie, linebacker Adarius Taylor, guard Eric Kush, and tight end Demetrius Harris all were released Monday as the latest purge begins by Lake Erie, but I can understand these moves and I'm on board with most of them on pure performance.
The Browns will save money under the cap with these snips from the roster as almost thirteen million of cap space will be created for roster reinforcements with the possibilities ( and hope) that the cap space could be used more wisely.

The biggest loss on the field was cornerback T.J. Carrie, who is a good slot corner that isn't quite as good on the outside but can get a team by in a pinch there.
While I like Carrie as a player, I don't like what he would have been paid if Carrie had stayed on the roster- 8.15 million paid and by releasing him the Browns save 6.35 million on their cap.
If Carrie was making less money, I'd be a little more upset but I cannot see the Browns spending over eight million dollars on their 3rd or 4th best cornerback and the savings make sense to me.

The remaining three players can be easily replaced at cheaper prices.
Adarius Taylor was signed from Tampa Bay to threaten to start at linebacker, but was mainly a special teams player, albeit a very good one.
Still, the Browns save well north of two million under the cap for a player that otherwise made little impact.

Eric Kush was signed from the Bears to hopefully provide depth at guard, but after Austin Corbett bombed as the starter, Kush was shoved into the starting lineup with mediocre results.
With Wyatt Teller as a better and cheaper alternative, the over two million dollars that the Browns will be saving by releasing Kush make this release a smart one.

Demetrius Harris was a Dorsey player that dated back to Kansas City and as a blocking tight end was a fit.
Harris wasn't a bad player, but when David Njoku missed most of the season, Harris isn't the type of tight end that can play full-time and be effective as a receiver and waiver claim Ricky Seals-Jones (who I hope will be retained) passed him on the depth chart.
The Browns will be considering changes at tight end even with Njoku and Seals-Jones, but blocking types such as Harris are easily available and a replacement should be found well short of the almost two and a half million saved by letting Harris go.

Trust me, I'm more than ready to call out the new/old management team for their talent evaluation and judgment, but these make sense to me.
I would have liked to have seen T.J. Carrie stay with the Browns, but his cost was far beyond his worth at the price that he was being paid and I agree with the reasoning in allowing him to leave as well.
I'm sure that moves are coming to disagree with, so I'm not going soft!

Browns make Giants trade official, add depth

On the day that trades and signings could be officially announced, the Cleveland Browns did so with the New York Giants and combined the two agreed upon deals into one along with another wrinkle that was added as well.

The official word saw the Browns acquiring Odell Beckham and Olivier Vernon from the Giants and sending Kevin Zeitler, Jabrill Peppers, the Browns first-round draft pick and the third rounder obtained from the Patriots for Danny Shelton.
There was one minor change from the two announced trades between the teams as the previously announced flip flop of the Browns fifth rounder for the Giants fourth-rounder was annulled and each team will keep their original selections.

The Browns now possess eight picks in the 2019 draft- their own picks in rounds two through six, two extra picks in the fifth round (Jaguars and Patriots) and the Jaguars pick in the seventh and final round.

The Browns did sign two additional players that had not been announced, neither are expected to start but should provide depth at their respective positions,
On the offensive side of the football, Cleveland signed tight end Demetrius Harris to a two-year contract for undisclosed terms.
Harris had spent his entire career for the Chiefs and grabbed 12 passes for 164 yards with three of those for touchdowns.
The 6'7 former basketball player at Wisconsin-Milwaukee will replace the recently waived Darren Fells as the backup blocking tight end and should be a valuable end zone target.

Cleveland also signed a linebacker as the Browns added Adarius Taylor, who spent last season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Taylor started ten games last season for Tampa, finishing with sixty solo tackles and a sack in his first time as a starter in five years in the league with Carolina and Tampa Bay.
New Browns defensive coordinator Steve Wilks and linebackers coach Al Holcomb coached Taylor with the Panthers, so I'm sure the two coaches had some positive input on Taylor.
I would think that Taylor is not the full-time linebacker that the team needs, but Taylor has been a valuable special teams player in the league and should be a help there along with being able to step in at linebacker, if needed.