Browns Smart to Stay Cautious in Free Agency

The cool thing about being a fan of sports is that you really can learn over time.  I feel like a smarter fan today having been through all the things the Browns have been through since 1999.  Take free agency, for example? The Browns have signed guys like LeCharles Bentley, Donte Stallworth, Dave Zastudil, Gary Baxter, Joe Jurevicius, and Eric Steinbach.  There have been some others, but these are the names that stick out to me most.  Eric Steinbach has been great.  Jurevicius was solid for a season.  The rest ended up being not worth the money or trouble mostly. Today I was reading about the trade of Albert Haynesworth from the Redskins to the Patriots and Andrew Brandt at The National Football Post helped me really tie together something else I have learned over the last few years with Eric Mangini at the helm for the Cleveland Browns. As I (Brandt) often say, free agency in football is different than other sports. Football – unlike a sport such as baseball — is about schem...