The Cleveland Browns are always one of the more active franchises during any given offseason. They always look for ways to improve their roster, whether that be a blockbuster trade for Deshaun Watson or making moves along the edges. There have been no earth-shattering moves yet from Cleveland, but they still have made an assortment of decisions already in free agency.
One of those moves was to sign quarterback Jameis Winston. Winston has been relegated to backup duties over the last couple of seasons, but he still has the capacity to win games as a starter.
That's not the most high-profile move they've made, but perhaps the best acquisition Cleveland has pulled off so far. They also traded for Jerry Jeudy and extended him to a new deal. That new contract they doled out to him may constitute as the worst move they've made so far.
Best move: signing Jameis Winston
As mentioned above, the Browns have not been able to rely on Watson to be available for the majority of their games. He has been in Cleveland for two seasons now but has only been able to play 12 of a possible 35 games (including the Browns' wild card loss in 2023). Even when Watson has been healthy, the Browns have not gotten their end of the bounty they paid for him back in 2022. Since the start of the 2022 season, the former Clemson National Champion ranks just 35th among 46 qualified quarterbacks in EPA plus CPOE composite score. The list of names he's above isn't very pretty either.
Cleveland's season changed in 2023 when Joe Flacco was named their starting quarterback. It's hard to believe but it's a thing that happened, in large part because Flacco capably pushed the ball downfield. Watson threw 3.5 deep shots a game but completed just 33% of them according to playerprofiler.com. Meanwhile, Flacco attempted 4.4 deep passes per game and converted on 50% of them, ranking second.
The Browns don't have to worry about Jameis Winston chucking the ball deep downfield. The sample size with Winston over the last few years isn't large (he has just 323 pass attempts in the previous three seasons). However, in 2023, his air yards per attempt average was 12.3 yards. Two years ago, that number was 11.4. His lowest average in the last three seasons was in 2021 when that number fell to 8.3.
Ideally, the Browns don't have to rely on Winston and get the type of play from Watson they paid for and were accustomed to seeing when he was in Houston. But it can't hurt to have an insurance policy to start the season rather than scramble for one in the middle of the year.
Grade: B+
Worst move: extending Jerry Jeudy
The highest-profile move the Browns have made this offseason was trading for Denver Broncos wide receiver Jerry Jeudy. They didn't pay a lot to get him, which is nice. All Cleveland had to part with was a 2024 fifth and sixth-round pick. That's fantastic value on their part.
#Browns announce trade with #Broncos
Browns receive⁰WR Jerry Jeudy
Broncos receive:⁰2024 fifth-round pick (from Panthers via QB Baker Mayfield trade)⁰2024 sixth-round pick (from Houston via QB Deshaun Watson trade)Jeudy reaction to the trade: pic.twitter.com/Wg4tn7icBl
— Daryl Ruiter (@RuiterWrongFAN) March 13, 2024
Trading for Jeudy is one thing, but the extension they gave him is another. Without playing a game in a Browns uniform, Cleveland re-upped him to a three-year $58 million deal that includes $41 million guaranteed. For a player who has yet to accrue a 1,000-yard season in four tries in the NFL, that is a hefty price tag. They are paying him roughly the same price annually that bonafide star receivers like DJ Moore, Keenan Allen, and Mike Evans are making.
In Jeudy's defense, his situation in Denver has not been favorable over the last four seasons, but he also hasn't live up to his first-round pedigree. Maybe a change of scenery invigorates him, but the price tag on his extension feels ambitious and the timing of it is premature.
Grade: C
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