Cleveland Browns need to sign Mike Daniels at all costs
The Cleveland Browns have made splash additions all offseason but landing Mike Daniels would be perhaps their most important if they can get a deal done.
There has been nothing quiet about the Cleveland Browns in the 2019 offseason. From signing running back Kareem Hunt,to trading for Olivier Vernon and, of course, Odell Beckham Jr. to even drafting Greedy Williams, general manager John Dorsey has made his intentions of winning now abundantly clear. Those aspirations can be further realized if the team can land Mike Daniels.
Daniels was released by the Green Bay Packers on Wednesday in a shocking cap-cutting move. Now Daniels is on the open market and the Browns are clearly interested. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the defensive tackle’s first visit is to Cleveland.
The Browns have been interested in increasing the talent and depth at defensive tackle for some time now. When Gerald McCoy was released by that Tamp Bay Buccaneers earlier this offseason, Dorsey and Cleveland were in on trying to land the perennial Pro-Bowler. Thus, it stands to reason they’d want to add another highly effective veteran that has now hit the open market.
There’s no question that the defensive line in Cleveland should be a strength in the 2019 season. Myles Garrett looks primed to become a star, Vernon should help complement him on the opposite edge, Larry Ogunjobi showed tremendous promise last season and free-agent newcomer Sheldon Richardson isn’t anyone to write off.
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While that may be so, the depth on the interior of the line behind Ogunjobi and Richardson is a bit suspect. Brian Price and Trevon Coley comprise the two primary backups for that unit and, while they are fine for sparingly dispersed snaps, they aren’t players that a defense feels comfortable consistently rotating onto the field.
Ill effects of poor depth at defensive tackle showed up last season where Ogunjobi was, in essence, run into the ground. That’s not the way to effectively use high-end defensive line talent. That’s where a three-man rotation with Daniels, Ogunjobi and Richardson would become dangerous. That would give the Browns three Pro-Bowl caliber defensive tackles to rotate in and keep fresh while never relenting the pressure up the middle.
Considering that Daniels was set to make $10.7 million from Green Bay in 2019, one would have to assume that he would get a deal either in that range or even slightly cheaper on a one-year rental for the 30-year old stalwart up front. And while that’s no small amount of money, it’s an amount that Dorsey and the Browns shouldn’t be wary of giving out.
Daniels has proven to be a pass-rushing force up the middle this season, a player that can truly break up any play with his presence. Given just that and the fact that he can be a key piece to keeping the rest of the defense healthy and at their best, cost should not be an issue — especially for a Cleveland team that still has $34 million in cap space remaining, per Over the Cap.
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This should be a no-brainer for Cleveland in terms of signing Daniels. He’s a high-end player that answers and immediate need with almost no question marks, save for an injury that nagged him last season, and that they have the money to land. It would have to go down as a loss of the veteran defensive tackle doesn’t end up on the Browns.