The Browns continued to add to their Roster yet again, as Free-Agency is slowly coming to a halt. Friday, they reached an agreement with former Bills and Rams Cornerback, E.J. Gaines. Gaines was originally drafted in the Sixth round of the 2014 NFL Draft by the Los Angeles Rams. Gaines was traded to Buffalo this past season for Wide Receiver, Sammy Watkins. When healthy, this dude has been a solid contributor to both the Rams and Bills.
Lovely! The Browns have added a young corner with the potential of being a number 1. At times he’s showed the ability to play up to that level. Injuries, and Tre’Davious White have prevented him from blossoming into a number 1. The money and term on the deal is just perfect too. Gaines missed all of 2015 with Lisfranc, and missed 5 games in 2016 with a Thigh Injury. 1 year at $4 million seems like a reasonable amount to pay. If he gets injured, or sucks they will move on, and it will be fairly easy. If he performs at a high level, then they’d probably look to an extension. Lets take a look at what Gaines brings on the field:
The nerds had E.J. scoring an average of 86.6 in 2017. That’s good for the 13th best average score among corners. But what does any of that really mean?
Well that certainly means more to me. This guy appears to be one of the better cover corners in the league. He’s good at keeping guys quiet while going somewhat unnoticed, as E.J. only has 1 interception in his entire career. The Gaines signing makes it look like the three corners the Browns will go with next year are as follows: 1. Gaines 2. Carrie 3. Boddy-Calhoun. That seems like an upgrade from 2017. The Cornerback crew the Browns rocked with in 2017: 1. McCourty 2. Taylor 3. Boddy-Calhoun. Boddy-Calhoun has developed into a very good slot corner, and at times McCourty played like a true number one corner. Despite all this, the Browns clearly wanted to get younger and faster. Bringing in Carrie and Gaines likely means the end of Jamar Taylor in Cleveland. Taylor struggled last season with an increased workload. He was bumped to the number 2 corner spot after Joe Haden was released from the team. Taylor is most remembered for being completely emasculated by T.Y. Hilton this past season.
The Browns are continuing to add solid pieces to their roster. In the week and half since the league New Year began the Browns have added: Tyrod Taylor, Jarvis Landry, Damarious Randall, Donald Stephenson, Chris Hubbard, Chris Smith, Carlos Hyde, T.J. Carrie, Terrance Mitchell, E.J. Gaines, and Darren Fells. Some names are bigger than others on that list, but all have contributed to winning programs in the NFL. These are the players the Browns needed to fill out the roster, that way they are not relying on Rookies so often. They will use rookies to supplement the talent they already have, rather than force them to be starters right away. The Roster is substantially better than it was just two weeks ago, and we still have the draft to go. Go Browns.
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