The Cleveland Browns have come out and said they don’t plan to use the franchise or transition tag this year. The fact is they should, if needed, on Mitchell Schwartz.
In the past day, both Cleveland Browns head coach Hue Jackson and executive Vice President Sashi Brown tipped their hand as it relates to free agency. Attacking the issue from different ends of the spectrum, their message is a confident one, saying the team doesn’t plan to use either the franchise or transition tag this offseason. A united front and a strong message, but they should be more open to using the franchise tag when it comes to Mitchell Schwartz.
Related Story: Cleveland Browns: 7 Round Mock Draft Heading to the Combine
Jackson said in a press conference Wednesday that when it came to free agents, he hopes to get them all back, but that those players have to want to come back. This is specifically referring to Mitchell Schwartz, Travis Benjamin, Tashaun Gipson and Alex Mack in the event he opts out of his current contract, which is all but a certainty.
There is some reason to be admirable that Jackson wants players that want to be here, projecting strength; that the Browns are not a place where careers end or a way to bolster one’s career earnings. Jackson is seeking to instill a certain amount of pride within the organization and create an aura that the team is a worthwhile one.
Football has so much of a bunker mentality to it that there truly is merit to the concept ‘faking it you make it’. And this issue hurt the Browns just last year, where players did not think they were as good as they were, particularly on the defensive side of the ball.
More from Cleveland Browns
- Cleveland Browns have built a formidable defensive line
- Ranking the 5 best NFL uniform changes for the 2023 season
- 2023 NFL Season: Evaluation 3 darkhorse MVP candidates
- Stop sleeping on Deshaun Watson and the Cleveland Browns
- NFL: Predicting the top 5 running attacks for the 2023 season
There is also somewhat of a con here being played by Jackson. He’s basically trying to put an idea in the heads of these free agents that they should want to stay or miss out on being part of something special. Jackson could be right, but it’s a bit of a high stakes gamble.
If any of them leave, he has a presser ready to go speaking again on wanting players that want to be here in an effort to bring the team together, building an ‘us against them’ mentality. Play like a Brow… wrong regime.
Obviously, the risk is that some or all of those players basically don’t buy what Jackson is selling and they all opt to sign with other teams, providing a substantial hole on a roster that only won 3 games last year.
Sure, there are plenty of people saying the Browns can lose 13 games without them just as easily they can with them. Nevertheless, Mack is one of the top centers in football, Benjamin is a young receiver that had the best year of his career and may be ready to enter his prime, and Schwartz was arguably the best right tackle in all of football in 2015. Gipson had a down 2015, but was a Pro Bowl player in 2014.
They could well be part of a foundation that help turns this team around in a meaningful way. It would certainly help if they can find a legitimate quarterback, but that’s its own topic.
Sashi Brown came out Wednesday and echoed what Jackson was saying, but did so in talking about the franchise and transition tags. Basically, he said the team doesn’t plan on using them this offseason.
Maybe he’s really confident about where the team is in terms of negotiating with these players and who they truly want to keep and who they have made plans to move on from.
Plans change and in this case, they should if gets to that point with right tackle Mitchell Schwartz.
Whether critics want to believe that Schwartz was the best right tackle in football in 2015 isn’t important. He had a great year. Yes, it was his contract year, but he was legitimately playing at a higher level than he has to this point in his career. Luck playing out with health and just playing at a high level from start to finish this past year contributed.
Schwartz is just 26 years old, appears to have hit the prime of his career and has started all 64 games of his career. He’s young, he’s durable and he’s good. On top of everything else, he was drafted by the Browns, so they know who he is.
Still not sure? Remember when the Browns should’ve beaten the then 5-0 Denver Broncos if not for a disastrous drive in overtime? Von Miller had almost no impact on the Browns in that game, but Miller just helped the Broncos win the Super Bowl, securing MVP honors for the game at the same time.
If that wasn’t a ringing endorsement for Schwartz this past season, nothing is.
Schwartz warrants being the top paid right tackle in the NFL until the next great right tackle comes up for free agency. It’s his turn.
Currently, the top paid right tackle in football is Bryan Bulaga of the Green Bay Packers. Bulaga is in the middle of a $33.75M contract over 5 years, averaging $6.75M per season. For Schwartz’s agent, the negotiations likely start there plus however much more they believe Schwartz should get in line with a bigger salary cap, inflation, etc. to be the new top paid at his position.
If the Browns came out and announced a 5 or 6 year deal that averages paying Schwartz getting $8M per year, with however they want to pay it out and give him bonus money, so on and so forth, the deal should be applauded by Browns fans. That number might end up being even higher given just how much the salary cap is increasing.
If for whatever reason, the Browns do this and Schwartz and his agent are just adamant they aren’t interested and want to go to a new team, the way Jackson and Brown laid it out, the team would just let him walk and welcome a nice compensatory in 2017.
Pass.
If the sides cannot come to a contract agreement before free agency is set to begin, the Browns should apply the franchise tag to Schwartz and continue to negotiate a long term deal. The worst case scenario is that Schwartz would sign the franchise tender and he would get paid right around $13M ($12.92 million per NFL.com’s estimation).
First, there would probably be a reaction from fans and media in Cleveland and around the league. $13M for a right tackle?! He’d be making more than Joe Thomas this year!
Yes, he would. Leverage is king and Schwartz has it currently. The Browns have a ton of cap room, so using $13M for one season of excellent right tackle play and someone who has every reason to perform at an incredibly high level again for the next contract is a perfectly reasonable move.
Thomas would one of the people happy to see Schwartz back as he’s made no secret of how highly he thinks of Schwartz as a player and person.
Look at Dwayne Bowe’s contract. Or Justin Gilbert. At least people know what they are getting from Schwartz. And they can actually see it on Sundays.
Second, people would argue that Schwartz would be bitter at the team for using this tactic to keep his services.
Maybe, but it wouldn’t last.
To this point in his career, Schwartz has made $5.17M in his 4 years in the NFL, making $1.645M this past season. While he’d certainly rather have a long term deal in place with more security to his financial and football future, it’s difficult to imagine he’s going to be too upset with getting $13M for 1 season of work and increasing his career earnings by about 250%.
The other part of this is that nothing about Schwartz to this point suggests that he would be anything less than professional about the situation. He’s an extremely intelligent, analytical type guy who seems to really understand how the NFL works as a business as well as how the game works. He’d also know he has to play well to keep his value up on the contract for a contract the next year.
And in the event he does want to continue his career elsewhere in the NFL, he still has good friends in the Browns’ locker room. And the players didn’t ‘do’ this to him.
The third issue that comes up with this stuff is critics would argue that this sets a bad precedent for negotiating other contracts. Leverage is leverage. When players and agents have it, they are going to use it. And they should. For all they put themselves through, they should get every dollar they can from the NFL.
The Browns would be rewarding their own player as well. And outside of maybe the position he plays, not a remotely controversial one. The only arguments against that element of this move would be contrived and have nothing to do with Schwartz the person or the player.
The best case scenario is that the Browns can negotiate a long term deal with Schwartz, make him the top paid right tackle, have the press conference and photo op with Jackson, Brown and Schwartz all with smiling faces, having ensured bookend tackles for the foreseeable future and move onto the next issue. In the event that can’t happen, the Browns should seriously consider changing their plans and using the franchise tag with Schwartz.
The best argument against using the franchise tag is that the Browns haven’t had players worth using it on, going back to when the team franchised kicker Phil Dawson. In fact it’s the only argument outside of cap space. Schwartz is worth it and the Browns have more than enough cap to make the move with room to spare.
More nfl spin zone: Ranking the Top 5 Prospects for the 2nd Pick in the Draft
Nothing would be better than Jackson’s message making an impact with the players, having them all want to believe in what this team can be and buy in and sign up. It would be a great story. Alas, this is the Browns and while it’s certainly an interesting tactic to try to promote strength from the top, they should embrace reality and be ready to insure themselves against creating a massive hole along their offensive line by losing Schwartz if it comes to that. Unorthodox? Sure. Smart? Definitely.