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Browns Running Back Duke Johnson Asks to Be Traded

June 4th, 2019

Matt Loede

Posted in News

Both Odell Beckham Jr. and Duke Johnson are at Browns mandatory mini camp today, but from various reports from Berea, only one of them wants to be there.

Reports say that Johnson is not happy with his status with the organization, and wants to be dealt. The running back said that he was orginially put on the trade block a month before he requested a trade.

Here’s a video from Cleveland.com’s Mary Kay Cabot with Johnson declaring he wants to be moved by the Browns.

#Browns Duke Johnson said he still wants to be traded pic.twitter.com/HPg2P7Aach

— Mary Kay Cabot (@MaryKayCabot) June 4, 2019

Johnson signed a three-year, $15.6 million contract extension with the Browns last June, getting a $3 million signing bonus and $7.57 million in guarantees.

Last season Johnson ended up with 40 rushes for 201 yards, and 47 grabs for 429 yards and three scores.

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Free Agent DT Gerald McCoy Turns Down the Browns to Ink with the Panthers

June 3rd, 2019

Matt Loede

Posted in Free Agency, News

The Browns pursuit of free agent defensive tackle Gerald McCoy has fallen short, as Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that the former Buccaneers tackle is signing with the Carolina Panthers.

The move will keep him in the NFC South, where he can fast his former team twice a season.

The report says that McCoy will be signing a one-year deal worth up to $10.25 million that includes a $4 million signing bonus.

The Browns were aggressive in going after McCoy, meeting with him in Berea, and head coach Freddie Kitchens said all the right things in trying to get McCoy to come to Cleveland.

“I like the kid,” Kitchens said of McCoy last week after OTA’s.

“I like the person. Of course, I like the player. More importantly, just getting to know the kid, and I really like him.”

The six-time Pro Bowl DT was set to make $13 million this season if the Bucs would not have released him.

In his career he has put up 54.5 sacks, 296 tackles, 79 for a loss and 140 quarterback hits.

His sack totals rank fourth in the NFL among defensive tackles since 2010.

Browns QB Baker Mayfield said at his youth camp over the weekend that he reached out to McCoy in hopes of getting him to sign with the Browns.

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Free Agent Gerald McCoy Expected to Choose His New Team Today

June 3rd, 2019

Matt Loede

Posted in Free Agency, News

Browns fans continue to spend the day refreshing Twitter in hopes of seeing the news that free agent defensive tackle Gerald McCoy has decided to continue his NFL career in Cleveland.

While there’s been no ‘official’ news on the matter, Pro Football Talk reports that McCoy is hopeful in making a decision today, which makes sense as he needs to let the Browns know if he will be at their mandatory minicamp which begins Tuesday.

Here’s the report from PFT:

McCoy hopes to make a decision some time today, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reports.

The 31-year-old McCoy, who was released by the Buccaneers, is negotiating with the Panthers, Browns and Ravens. If he’s going to pick the Browns, they’d like him at their mandatory minicamp, which starts tomorrow.

McCoy’s Buccaneers contract was set to pay him $13 million this year, and it’s safe to say he’s not going to make that much anywhere else. He seems to be hoping that by the end of the day today, some team will at least offer him something close.

There were some rumblings that Carolina was out of the running, but that report seemed to go nowhere, and it seems that it is still a three-team race to land him between the Browns, Ravens and Panthers.

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Browns Fans Will Have to Wait a Little Longer to See if Gerald McCoy Will Come to Cleveland

May 31st, 2019

Matt Loede

Posted in Free Agency, News

The Browns and their fans will have to wait the weekend to see if free agent defensive tackle Gerald McCoy is going to be wearing brown and orange or another uniform in 2019 and beyond.

NFL.com reports that McCoy, after visits with Cleveland, Baltimore and with the Carolina Panthers, will use the weekend to make a decision on what team to sign with.

Ian Rapoport of The NFL Network stated as well that McCoy could choose his team in time to be there for upcoming minicamps.

Of note, the Browns kick off their three-day minicamp on the weekend of June 4-6, while the Ravens and Panthers will hold their respective minicamps on June 11-13.

McCoy immediately found himself a wanted man in the wake of his release from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The six-time Pro Bowler first visited with the Browns, followed by the Ravens and Panthers.

If McCoy desires to play for a contender, he can’t go wrong with any of the teams.

The Ravens come off a 2018 season where they won the AFC North to make the postseason, while the Panthers have a talented foundation to turn around a disappointing 2018 campaign.

The Browns, though, are one of the more exciting teams in the league heading to the 2019 season with the offseason additions of wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr., defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson and defensive end Olivier Vernon. The trio joined a foundation anchored by second-year quarterback Baker Mayfield, wide receiver Jarvis Landry and defensive end Myles Garrett, among others.

Of the three teams vying for McCoy’s services, the Browns as of Friday afternoon have the most salary cap space with $32.6. The Ravens have $13.4 million and the Panthers sit on $8.5 million.

McCoy visited with the Browns first on his free agent tour, and then spent two days with the Ravens before moving on and chatting with the Panthers, who he knows very well from his time playing in Tampa with the Buccaneers.

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Browns to Get a Visit from Six-Time Pro Bowl DT Gerald McCoy

May 23rd, 2019

CJ

Posted in News

The Browns will get their chance on Friday to impress defensive tackle Gerald McCoy, as GM John Dorsey says McCoy will be in town for a visit.

Browns GM John Dorsey says free agent DT Gerald McCoy set to visit tomorrow.

— Andrew Gribble (@Andrew_Gribble) May 23, 2019

Reports say that two other AFC North teams, the Bengals and Ravens are interested in the six-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle.

McCoy, who was released by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last week, has 54.5 sacks, 296 tackles, 79 for a loss and 140 quarterback hits.

His sack totals rank fourth in the NFL among defensive tackles since 2010. He was set to make a whopping $13 million this season with the Bucs.

There’s no question that he would bring another weapon to the Browns defensive line, the question is will the Ravens, Bengals or another team that has interest make an offer that he won’t be able to turn down.

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Browns Ink Top Draft Pick CB Greedy Williams to Four-Year Deal

May 21st, 2019

Randy Ward

Posted in News, NFL Draft

Greedy Williams, the Browns’ top pick in the 2019 draft, signed his four-year contract Tuesday and can now get down to the business of trying to win the starting job opposite Denzel Ward, Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports.

The deal is worth $6.5 million, including $4.1 million guaranteed.

Williams, who expected to be a first-round pick, tumbled to the second round, where the Browns traded up three spots with the Colts to take him at No. 46 overall out of LSU.

Williams worked primarily with the second-team in the first week of OTAs, but is expected to start this season considering his second-round draft status.

“Right now, I’m just focusing on learning the playbook and everything, getting the base defense down and just coming in ready to compete for a spot,” Williams said at rookie minicamp. “So my chances are where I take them.”

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Browns GM Dorsey and Coach Kitchens in Attendance for Kareem Hunt’s Baptism

May 20th, 2019

CJ

Posted in News

Browns running back Kareem Hunt said on Wednesday that he was getting baptized today. Sunday, he had at least two prominent supporters in attendance at True Vine Baptist Church, Dan Labbe of the Plain Dealer reports.

Browns GM John Dorsey and head coach Freddie Kitchens surprised their new running back by attending his baptism.

Hunt was cut by the Chiefs last November after video surfaced of him shoving and kicking a woman in a hotel hallway at a downtown Cleveland hotel. Dorsey, who drafted Hunt, signed him in February. The league suspended him eight games.

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Browns WR Odell Beckham Jr. Crushes the Giants in a Rant on Twitter

April 23rd, 2019

CJ

Posted in News

Odell Beckham Jr. crushed the Giants organization in a Monday Twitter rant as “a place that’s ok wit(h) losing,” clearly set off by GM Dave Gettleman’s frequent trolling of OBJ in allusions to his detrimental impact on the “culture,” Pat Leonard of the New York Daily News reports.

“Ask any one of my teammates of who I was as a teammate and a man and a person,” Beckham said in response to a fan who called him a ‘cancer.’ “Yes I’m cancer to a place that’s ok wit(h) losing because I want to win that BADDDD. Ur absolutely correct!”

Beckham, 26, called it “crazy” and “disrespectful” that the Giants only issued a stock Gettleman press release thanking OBJ “for his contributions” after his March trade to Cleveland.

“‘We didn’t sign him to trade him,’” Beckham wrote, mocking Gettleman’s empty pre-trade words. “You don’t get married to get a divorce … I tried my best, the situation I had been in since I got there never changed … we were still losing. PERIOD… money doesn’t bring happiness brotha… remember that.”

Beckham also spilled dirt on some Giants late-season drama involving coach Pat Shurmur and threatened to share more if his name keeps getting dragged through the mud by the passive-aggressive Gettleman.

“I gave them everything I had (every) Sunday. Just put some respect on my name that’s all I’m sayin!” Beckham said to a fan who’d pointed out Gettleman has been ‘disrespectful’ to him. “I ain’t sayin nothin, (and) trust me I got a LOTTTTT of info that people don’t kno(w) about so, so keep my name outcha mouth the way I do yalls! Ya diggg.”

Beckham tweeted he had begged Shurmur to be on the sidelines for the Giants’ final four games last season while injured but that Shurmur had told him “no.”

“Ask the coach,” Beckham wrote. “I beggged him to go to each and every one of those games actually for my team(mates) and to be on the sideline for the home games… he told me “No”,,,, anything else sir. (That’s to whoever tweeted askin why I didn’t travel while I was hurt….) next.”

Beckham, for example, laughed at a hype video of Manning’s recent workouts with current Giants receivers. A fan said “never saw one video of (Manning) doing this @obj on a CONSISTENT basis smh(.) see how they act brand new when homie gone.”

Beckham tweeted an emoji zipping its mouth shut. “*Takes the high road* I’m working on the best me! That’s all I can say,” he said.

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