The past few months, even questioning whether running back Peyton Hillis would return to the Cleveland Browns next season or not was outlandish. Everyone knew the Browns wouldn’t resign Hillis, right? That has all changed with his strong season finish.
Cleveland came out and supported Peyton — finally — by saying they would like to resign him at a reasonable price. Pat Shurmur said, “I’ll tell you what, Peyton and I had a great conversation yesterday. He’s an all-star player who was dealing with injury in the middle part of the year and then came back, and I really liked what he did at the end of the season.”
That shows me the Browns would definitely like to bring Hillis back next season when he could be healthy all year.
Hillis also came out and said “I’m a Cleveland Brown at heart. Since I’ve been here, I fell in love with the fans and the city and the people that live here. They’ve been nothing but one hundred percent supportive through everything when I talk to them. And it’s good to have a second family backing me like that.”
I think if Hillis honestly wants to wear brown and orange next season and years to come, the Browns have to make a move to resign him. He is a great running back with a good combination of speed and strength, who has also established himself as a top-tier back. With his statement, I think that says it all. I really wasn’t expecting him to return, but now I am swayed by his comment.
If Cleveland gets Hillis to resign, I could definitely see the Browns focusing their draft on Robert Griffin III instead of toying with the idea of Trent Richardson. Richardson has been my predictions for the Browns’ top draft pick in both my mock drafts, but that could change in my next mock since Cleveland appears interested in bringing back Hillis.
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