Cleveland Browns bolstered in areas of need over start of free agency

On Mar 19, 2023

Ogbonnia Okoronkwo of the Houston Texans celebrates after knocking the ball loose against the Dallas Cowboys on Dec, 11, 2022.

It was an active first six days of free agency for the Browns. All of the holes on the roster are filled, and it’s just a matter of biding time until the season starts.

Clearly that’s not the case for general manager Andrew Berry.

There remain several moves for him to make between now and the start of training camp, if not after it starts as well.

There’s still a need for a speed threat at receiver and a backup quarterback, plus probably another offensive lineman. As has been shown, you can never have enough defensive linemen, and there’s still a definite need for linebacker help.

All of the Browns’ offseason moves:Cleveland Browns free agency/trade tracker

That said, there’s still time for those to moves to be made through more signings, trades or next month’s draft. There’s also time to take a moment and look back on what Berry and the Browns did over the opening week of free agency.

The biggest overall takeaway from the initial salvo is that Berry targeted specific needs and, at least on paper, seemed to do well to address those. Let’s look at specific takeaways from those moves.

Dalvin Tomlinson provides big-ticket answer at defensive tackle

You remember that one big present you got as a child, the one that just seemed to dwarf all the other ones you got, mostly likely because it was also the big-ticket one. Meet the Browns’ 2023 free-agency version of that in Dalvin Tomlinson. That’s exactly what they wanted, though. The first three years of Berry’s time at general manager, defensive tackle was an area where they both went relatively cheap and relatively small. Tomlinson, at 6-foot-3 and 325 pounds, is certainly not small. Nor was he cheap, as evidenced by his four-year, $57-million — $27.5 million guaranteed — contract. The defensive tackle position was an empty space a year ago, which is why it rose to priority No. 1 overall in the offseason. It wasn’t just about signing players, but signing at least one of the kind of talented, big-ticket players like Tomlinson. Now, it’s about him coming in and not just plugging up the hole in the interior of the defensive line, but also helping create opportunities for new All-Pro teammate Myles Garrett to get to the quarterback.