The Browns have signed 31-year old CB Hank Poteat.  Poteat played in 13 games for the Jets last season and he made 41 tackles, defensed 4 passes, had 1 sack, forced 2 fumbles and he intercepted 2 passes.  Poteat has now played in 94 games in his NFL career and he has made 165 tackles, defensed 14 passes, has 2 sacks, forced 3 fumbles and he has 4 interceptions.  Poteat will likely serve as the nickel back for the Browns in 2009 and help them out on special teams.

The Browns traded almost half of their picks last season for Brady Quinn, Shaun Rogers and Corey Williams.  Still, that didn’t change the fact that they didn’t add any players likely to make a big impact in the near future.  When your 7th round pick (OLB) Alex Hall was the best pick of the draft you know you had a bad day.  Hall played in all 16 games (2 starts) for the Browns last season and he made 28 tackles, forced 2 fumbles and had 3 sacks.  Inside linebacker Beau Bell was the first pick in the draft for the Browns last April and it didn’t come until the 4th round.  Bell played in 5 games (0 starts) last season for the Browns and he made 3 tackles and forced a fumble.  In his defense he was hurt most of last season (knee problems).  TE Martin Rucker was another 4th rounder for the Browns last season and he played in 5 games (1 start) in which he caught 2 passes for 17 yards (8.5 avg).  Rucker could work his way into the starting lineup soon for the Browns with Kellen Winslow gone if he can just stay healthy.  6th rounder Ahtyba Rubin (DT) played in 11 games (0 starts) for the Browns last season and he made 11 whole tackles.  Fellow 6th rounder (WR) Paul Hubbard never made it to the field as a rookie.

GRADE FOR THE 2008 SEASON:  F

GRADE FOR THE FUTURE:  D

The Browns have signed 25-year old DT C.J. Mosley to a 2-year contract.  Mosley played in all 16 games for the Jets last season and he made 17 tackles, defensed 2 passes and had 1.5 sacks.  Mosley has now played in 47 games in his NFL career and he has made 58 tackles, defensed 3 passes, has 8 sacks and he’s forced 3 fumbles.  This signing was made due to the influence of new head coach Eric Mangini as Mosley played the last three seasons for him.  Still, if Mosley was signed to be anything more than a backup then this was a bad signing for the Browns.

The Cleveland Browns have lost 27-year old safety Sean Jones to the Eagles as a free agent.  Jones played in 12 games for the Browns last season and he made 56 tackles, defensed 4 passes, forced 1 fumble and intercepted 4 passes.  Jones played in 60 games in his career with the Browns and he made 286 tackles, defensed 30 passes, had 1 sack, forced 2 fumbles and he intercepted 14 passes.  This is a huge loss for the Browns.

The Browns have re-signed 27-year old safety Mike Adams to a 3-year, $4.1 million dollar contract.  Adams played in 14 games for the Browns last season and he made 44 tackles, defensed 2 passes and intercepted 2 passes.  Adams has now played in 67 games in his NFL career and he has made 220 tackles, defensed 16 passes, has 2 sacks, forced 1 fumble and he has intercepted 7 passes (one returned for a TD).  This was a smart move for the Browns to guard against the departure of free agent Sean Jones.

The Cleveland Browns have signed 30-year old TE Robert Royal.  Royal played in 15 games for the Bills last season and he caught 33 passes for 351 yards (10.6 avg) with 1 TD grab.  He has now played in 82 games in his NFL career and he has caught 112 passes for 1,081 yards (9.7 avg) with 12 TD grabs.  Royal will likely be the replacement for Kellen Winslow as the starting TE for the Browns and that’s a pretty huge dropoff in the passing game.  Royal is a better blocker in the running game than Winslow.